New faces will help SA in the shortest format feels Duminy

After a dreadful one-day series, hosts South Africa are looking to start fresh as the focus now shifts to the T20 format. With as many as 6 changes, the hosts have completely revamped their 14-member T20I squad. Dropped in the final one-dayer, JP Duminy is all set to lead the side in the shortest format. Ahead of the first encounter scheduled to take place on Sunday in Johannesburg, Duminy said that he is excited to lead the new faces and format change will help the hosts counter India better.

New Delhi: After a dreadful one-day series, hosts South Africa are looking to start fresh as the focus now shifts to the T20 format. With as many as 6 changes, the hosts have completely revamped their 14-member T20I squad. Dropped in the final one-dayer, JP Duminy is all set to lead the side in the shortest format. Ahead of the first encounter scheduled to take place on Sunday in Johannesburg, Duminy said that he is excited to lead the new faces and format change will help the hosts counter India better.

"I think the new faces will help. It is something that we spoke about this morning that we will feed off the freshness of new faces around. The format is different. It is a quicker and more aggressive format. And it will naturally bring out the best in us," said Duminy."I am excited to be able to lead. I think leadership naturally brings out the best in me and I enjoy the experience of leading people. I am quite excited by it,” he added.

The hosts, in the ODI series faced a stiff challenge from the Indian top order. The trio of Shikhar, Rohit and Virat gave India a solid start in all the matches. Top run scorer with 558 runs in the series, Virat particularly became a headache for the South African side. Yet again, Proteas have to contend with India’s in-form top-order. When asked about containing the top order, Duminy said that his side will go in with an aggressive mindset and look for early wickets.

 “The plan is not only to contain them but to try and get them out especially in this format. Your aim is always going to be to try and take wickets. Wickets will reduce the runs on board and with that mindset, we have good plans in place and hopefully it works out for us.” said Duminy.

Wrist spinners Kuldeep Chahal and Yuzvendra Chahal shared 33 wickets between them across six ODIs. There have been talks that the ODI pitches turned up more conducive to India’s strengths. Duminy said that he is expecting the pitches to be more even this time around but also cautioned that it still won't be easy to face the Indian wrist spinners.

 “One would think so (that the pitches will be more balanced), but in saying that the type of spinners India have, they will get the purchase out of surfaces no matter what the grounds men produce. Wrist spinners generally get more turn than what finger spinners produce so you are going to have to see how it pans out. But definitely in this format you will see a more aggressive approach,” said Duminy.“If you look at the T20 cricket around the world, there is naturally a more aggressive approach whether you are facing pace or spin. I think that frees guys up to take the aggressive option, so I don’t see it being any different this time around,” he added.

Squad: Reeza Hendricks, JJ Smuts, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy(c), David Miller, Heinrich Klaasen(wk), Chris Morris, Andile Phehlukwayo, Junior Dala, Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Farhaan Behardien, Christiaan Jonker, Tabraiz Shamsi