‘It is a challenging place to bat’ – Rahul Dravid on India’s game plan for tour of South Africa 2023-24
India is all set to commence their final tour of the year in South Africa. They are scheduled to play three T20 and ODI games followed by two test matches in January 2024. India’s head coach Rahul Dravid recently opened up on the challenging and tough batting conditions in South Africa while discussing the team’s game plan ahead of the tour.
Dravid recently announced the renewal of his contract with the Indian cricket board as the head coach, and will once again lead the team in India’s tour of South Africa. India has selected 45 members for the tour along with three captains for all the formats.
Rahul Dravid on challenging batting conditions in South Africa
In a recent statement, Rahul Dravid said, “So, it is a challenging place to bat; the statistics will tell you that. It is one of the more difficult places to bat in, especially up here in Centurion and Johannesburg. The wickets do tend to do a bit, and they tend to get up and down as well. Every one of the batsmen will have a game plan as to how they want to go, as long as they are clear about it and they commit to it and are practicing towards that, that’s fine.”
“We don’t expect everyone to play in the same way. We want them to be very clear about what works for them, and then be able to execute that. The boys, once they get out there, a lot of it is mental, and I guess, you know, we try and stress on the fact that if we do get going, if we get the opportunity to get set, they try to make it a match-winning contribution”, he added.
India’s schedule for tour of South Africa
| Day | Date | Match | Venue |
| Sunday | 10-Dec-23 | 1st T20I | Durban |
| Tuesday | 12-Dec-23 | 2nd T20I | Gqeberha |
| Thursday | 14-Dec-23 | 3rd T20I | Johannesburg |
| Sunday | 17-Dec-23 | 1st ODI | Johannesburg |
| Tuesday | 19-Dec-23 | 2nd ODI | Gqeberha |
| Thursday | 21-Dec-23 | 3rd ODI | Paarl |
| Tuesday | 26-Dec-23 to 30-Dec-23 | 1st Test | Centurion |
| Wednesday | 03-Jan-24 to 07-Jan-24 | 2nd Test | Cape Town |
India’s squad for tour of South Africa
India ODI Squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sai Sudharsan, Tilak Varma, Rajat Patidar, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (C) (wk), Sanju Samson (wk), Axar Patel, Washington Sundar, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Arshdeep Singh, Deepak Chahar.
India T20I Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Suryakumar Yadav (C), Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Ishan Kishan (wk), Jitesh Sharma (wk), Ravindra Jadeja (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Arshdeep Singh, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Deepak Chahar.
India Test Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Mohd. Shami*, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna.
