India will tour South Africa playing all the three formats of the game -- three Tests, three ODIs and four T20Is -- later this year. Ahead of India’s tour of South Africa, the Proteas head coach and former cricketer, Mark Boucher is hoping for a remarkable performance against the finalists of the World Test Championship (WTC) 2021.
'It's not about getting unscathed, but going out there with an opportunity to do something special and beat India. If we don't, we'll obviously learn the lessons and come out as a better cricket team," Boucher told News 24.
Moreover, the former wicketkeeper-batter believes that Cricket South Arica (CSA) is still trying to fill a few loopholes for the series against Virat Kohli’s men which will be a big test for them.
"Unscathed is a particularly interesting word to use, but we're playing an India team at home that's up there with the world's best. If you look at where we are as a Test group, we're still growing and we're still trying to find our feet with certain positions. It's going to be a good challenge and a good test for us. We did well in the West Indies, but we haven't played a Test at home in a while,” the 44-year-old emphasised on the importance of the home series.
After beating Australia with nearly their B side, that too on their home soil and leading the Test series by 2-1 in England, the Men in Blue will fancy their chances of winning their first-ever Test series on South African soil as well. However, they had won the limited-overs series (ODIs by 6-1, T20Is by 2-1), last time when they toured South Africa but despite fighting hard in the Wanderers (Johannesburg) Test, Kohli’s army had faced a 2-1 defeat in the Test series.
Under former skipper MS Dhoni's leadership, India came close to winning the Test series in 2010-11, but the three-match series ended in a 1-1 tie.
The first Test of India's South African tour will begin on December 17 in Johannesburg.
