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Proteas embark on new route

Altus Momberg

Gwalior – South Africa will on Wednesday play only their second one-day international cricket match with Corrie van Zyl as coach, but already it is clear that the team has embarked on a new route.

One of the first changes is the role that Jacques Kallis plays in the batting line-up.

Van Zyl confirmed on Tuesday that Kallis will again bat at No 3.

“I think it’s Jacques’s best position and also where he wants to bat,” said Van Zyl.

Kallis scored 89 runs at No 3 in the Proteas’ first one-day international against India in Jaipur on Sunday night.

The other noticeable change is that of Herschelle Gibbs, who has once again been picked as an opener.

Mickey Arthur, who was the Proteas’ previous coach, came up with a plan for Kallis to open the batting with Graeme Smith and for Gibbs to bat at No 5 if picked. This came in the wake of South Africa’s disappointing performance in the Champions Trophy tournament.

Kallis regularly opened for the Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) last year. Arthur believed that it was the all-round star’s best position.

Arthur also believed that Gibbs’s main weakness these days is that he struggles against the new ball.

However, the former coach still had a lot of faith in Gibbs’s ability and experience. He was convinced that he could play a crucial role in the middle order.

Van Zyl confirmed that they had not yet made a final decision on Gibbs’s role.

The exciting batsman lost his place in the starting line-up after his struggles in the Champions Trophy tournament, but opened the innings with Loots Bosman in Jaipur.

It’s an open question whether he will still do it once Graeme Smith has recovered from his injured finger.

The role of Hashim Amla, who will probably get a chance on Wednesday, still has to be finalised.

Another important change was the recall of Charl Langeveldt.

The teams:

India (from):
MS Dhoni (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Virat Kohli, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Sudeep Tyagi, Praveen Kumar, Abhishek Nayar, Yusuf Pathan, Amit Mishra.

South Africa (from):
Jacques Kallis (captain), Hashim Amla, Loots Bosman, Johan Botha, Mark Boucher, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Herschelle Gibbs, Charl Langeveldt, Albie Morkel, Morné Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Alviro Petersen, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Roelof van der Merwe.

TV: 10:30 on SS 2, starting time: 11:00.

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