Good chance for India to hit the ground running

Visitors face S Africa in one-off T20

India haven’t necessarily been the most enthusiastic when it comes to Twenty20 internationals, often using it as match practice with greater goals in mind – like in New Zealand nearly two years back – and whilst it’s difficult to see them being not competitive at the sell-out Moses Mabhida stadium on Sunday afternoon, Gary Kirsten and Mahendra Singh Dhoni will view this as the perfect opportunity for the one-day specialists to hit their straps before the 50-over skirmishes with South Africa get underway on Wednesday.

The commemoration of the first arrival of Indians in South Africa 150 years ago forms the backdrop against which this T20 game is to be played. It will be South Africa’s long-serving paceman Makhaya Ntini’s final hurrah as an international cricketer; interestingly enough, his last foray will not be at a traditional cricketing centre but at international cricket’s newest venue, which hosted several matches including the Spain-Germany semifinal of the football World Cup last year but may not stage another international cricket match in future.

Gripped by the IPL auction fever that drove many of them to put their myriad communication devices to frenetic use, India’s players arrived at Kingsmead on Saturday afternoon for a light training session, followed by a visit to the Moses Mabhida for a fielding stint.

Notable among those missing from nets was Sachin Tendulkar, not officially retired from T20 international cricket but who hasn’t played a single game since his debut in India’s inaugural international at the Wanderers in December 2006. Despite his excellent IPL form and pressure from various quarters, the master batsman has steadfastly refrained from playing international T20s. Requests have poured in from influential quarters asking him to make an exception for Sunday’s game, but Tendulkar made it clear that he had written to the BCCI saying he wouldn’t be playing the game.

The likes of Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and most crucially Suresh Raina – an integral part of the limited-overs squad despite having at least temporarily played himself out of Test cricket – will utilise this chance to locate their scoring shoes ahead of the one-dayers, while new bowling arrivals Praveen Kumar, Ashish Nehra, Munaf Patel and spin twins R Ashwin and Piyush Chawla too have plenty to play for.

India are almost certain to rest pace spearhead Zaheer Khan and offie Harbhajan Singh after the rigours of the Test series. Despite winning the inaugural World T20 here in South Africa, India don’t have the most edifying T20 results; Sunday, therefore, offers them another chance to correct that anomaly somewhat against a South African outfit that will also be without several big names.

Graeme Smith and Jacques Kallis are out injured – the latter will miss the one-day series as well – while Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel have been given a couple of extra days to put their feet up after bowling their hearts out in the Test matches, but there is enough quality around for the hosts to hold their own in a version they are extremely familiar and comfortable with.

The Proteas would not have forgotten Raina’s blazing century in the last T20 international between the sides, at the World T20 in the Caribbean. The profusion of young blood under T20 skipper Johan Botha and the overwhelming desire to give Ntini the perfect going-away gift will be massive motivation for the South Africans, who will welcome back Hashim Amla for only his third ever international in this format.

More than 50,000 people are expected at the Moses Mabhida in the largest turn-out for an international cricket match in Africa, but as much as the cricket, they will also look forward to the end-of-match concert featuring, among others, Bollywood stars Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra. Cricketainment, clearly, is the way to go; how fitting that it must coincide with day two of the IPL auction!

Umpires: Brian Jerling and Marais Erasmus. Third umpire: Johanes Cloete. Match referee: Chris Broad (England).