"Home series against India an opportunity to do something special and beat them" - Proteas coach Mark Boucher
South Africa head coach Mark Boucher has already set his sights on a home series against India, aiming to make significant strides against them. India will begin their all-format sojourn of South Africa from the 17th of December with the three-match Test series.
India will visit South Africa for the first time since early 2018 when they completed a reasonably successful tour. Although Virat Kohli and co. won the ODI and T20 series convincingly, they lost the Test series. However, the visitors would be high on confidence after conquering Australia and England.
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Mark Boucher doesn't expect South Africa to enjoy a perfect series against India, a vastly improved side overseas. Highlighting the Proteas as an improving side with a few loopholes, Boucher hopes to create something special.
"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.
'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," the 44-year old told News24.
India came close in 2006-07 in South Africa, drew in 2010-11, followed by losing in 2013-14 and the 2017-18 leg. However, their recent progress gives them the best chance to record their maiden Test series on South African soil. The progress comes made through an aggressive captain, a terrific bowling unit and magnificent depth.
"We can't look past the very important Test series against India" - Mark Boucher
Boucher emphasized the need to win the upcoming ODI leg against the Netherlands. But he stressed not wanting to shift his focus from the high-voltage Test series against India.
"The focus has shifted to the Netherlands because there are games there that we need to win in order to qualify for the World Cup. However, we can't look past the very important Test series against India, from where there's the white ball stuff against India," Boucher added.
The Proteas' 2021 T20 World Cup campaign ended as they were eliminated despite winning four out of five games. Temba Bavuma and co. exited the competition based on an inferior net run rate. Their three-match ODI series against the Netherlands starts on the 26th of November and the 1st of December.