Published: Sep 08, 2015, 12:58 PM (IST)
Edited: Sep 15, 2015, 12:30 PM (IST)
The 2015-16 home cricket season for India is kicking off from the first week of October, and South Africa will be the first international team to tour India for a full series this year. They will be play three T20 Internationals (T20Is), five One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and four Tests on this tour. The limited-overs matches will take place first and the opening T20 is scheduled to be played on October 2. According to our sources, the Indian selectors will announce the limited-overs squads (T20I and ODI) on September 15. The selected players will attend a pre-season camp at Bengluru, starting from September 20. Ahead of the camp, some seniors such as Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, and Suresh Raina might play against Bangladesh A to boost their preparations for the South Africa series. READ: Rahane confident of Indian batsmen excelling against spin vs SA in Test series
South Africa will arrive in the country high on confidence, after their recent success against New Zealand at home. But back of their mind, the undercooked tour of Bangladesh, in which they lost the three-match ODI series 1-2, but won the T20I series and drew the rain-marred Test series. Thus, on this tour of sub-continent, South Africa would like to improve their overall record. However, the quality time and experience that the young South African cricketers earned in Bangladesh, negotiating the spin-friendly conditions, will come in handy as they would he taking on a resurgent India. READ: Wriddhiman Saha: Confident of getting fit before South Africa series
The itinerary for the series was announced on July 2015. The limited overs games will be followed by Tests at Mohali (November 5-9), Bangalore (November 14-18), Nagpur (November 25-29) and the concluding match of the tour at Delhi from December 3 to 7). The tour will begin with a T20 practice match in Delhi, before the first T20I, in Dharamsala, and will end with the final day of the fourth Test in Delhi, on December 7.Dharamsala, Cuttack and Kolkata will host the T20Is, Kanpur, Indore, Rajkot, Chennai and Mumbai host the five ODIs, and the four Tests will be held in Mohali, Bangalore, Nagpur and Delhi.
