South Africa’s cricket Interim Director Enoch Nkwe on Tuesday said that they will look at life beyond current captain Faf du Plessis. The Proteas will be captained by Quinton de Kock in the Twenty20 Internationals against India, which starts on September 15.
While 35-year-old Du Plessis is still the captain of the Test side, Nkwe gave enough indications that South Africa wants to infuse fresh blood going into next year’s World T20 in Australia.
“We know where Faf stands as a captain and as a player,” Nkwe told reporters at Dharamsala. “He has done great things for South African cricket. But we also need to look at what future looks like and we strongly believe in Quinton, who is going to be leading the team going forward.
“We have a good leader and it’s an opportunity to start building for the future.”
While admitting that India is a formidable outfit, Nkwe is confident that the T20I series will help them assess the visitors.
“It’s the start of a new chapter and focus will be the coming series against India. We would be looking to lay a good foundation going into the T20 World Cup next year in Australia,” Nkwe said.
He added, “We still have a lot of games and have about 20 games [going into World T20] and we will assess the situation accordingly after these three games. Then build up for England series and so on.”
De Kock’s experience in India will be of great help, feels Nkwe. “We have got a group of guys with good enough experience and the captain himself has played a lot of cricket in India. We have fresh blood that has come into the squad and that’s exciting and we will remain competitive.
The Interim Director added: “Yes, we want to walk away with a series win and hope the entire squad is very determined. We are here to win and we understand that India’s position is strong in their backyard but we are going to give hundred percent.”
De Kock, on his part, feels that adaptability is the key and believes Dharamsala track will help batsmen. “I have been here before but haven’t played here. The last time we were here, the wicket did play very well,” he said.
“I think Rohit actually got a hundred but we ended up chasing it down. So from the one game that I have experienced over here, could be a good wicket. But we are coming into the unknown and we would like to adapt very quickly.”