South Africa announces squad for the World T20 2016

There were many surprises in the cricketing fraternity when South Africa announced their 15-man squad for the World T20 tournament starting next month.

South Africa’s pace ace Dale Steyn was named in the squad even after concerns after he sustained a shoulder injury in the first Test against England in December and has been subject to injuries and fitness problems since then. The rest of the pace battery looks like a formidable part of the squad. With the young guns Kagiso Rabada and Kyle Abbott leading, Morne Morkel and all-rounder Albie Morkel missed out on being part of them. Albie Morkel was ruled out of the ongoing England series at home with a back problem and he has ruled out his exclusion that he is “certainly not injured, not picked. That’s all.”

Indian sub-continent known for its spin-friendly wickets has seen South Africa include two spinners in its squad. Specialist Imran Tahir supported by Aaron Phangiso is in the charge of that department. Eight batsmen have been chosen in the squad with Quinton de Kock being the frontline wicketkeeper and AB de Villiers acting as the backup wicket-keeping option.

The batting order will see a lot of competition for the limited positions in the playing XI. Quinton de Kock and Hashim Amla will probably open with the middle-order strengthened with the likes of Faf du Plessis, de Villiers and JP Duminy. There will be an inclusion of either Farhaan Behardien or Rilee Rossouw and another all-rounder to fill the positions in the lower batting order.

Russell Domingo, South Africa’s head coach said, “We take some confidence from our T20 series wins against Bangladesh and India and kept relatively the same players who have had success on the sub-continent.” He added, “We have been playing good T20 cricket of late and this is our opportunity to showcase our skills at a World event. The upcoming T20 series’ against England and Australia will be the ideal platform for us to fine-tune some combinations and to hopefully gain some winning confidence ahead of the tournament next month. We are in a tough group in the tournament with England, West Indies, Sri Lanka and a qualifier. All of the top six teams on the world rankings have the skill and ability to lift the trophy so it’s a completely open competition with high stakes.”

Captain du Plessis is eager for the African nation to lift an ICC Trophy after missing out on a lot of opportunities in the past. He said, “The ICC World T20 is the competition that we have been working towards over the last 18 months, we have had disappointments in the past and this year is another great opportunity for us to lift that elusive ICC trophy. We have been playing together as a squad for some time now and are really hungry and motivated to put in the performances to bring us success. I’m really excited about the group of players who will be representing the country and hope we can make everyone proud.”

With a formidable side, the African nation will look to lift the trophy in the tournament starting next month in India.

South Africa squad for the World T20:

Faf du Plessis (C), Kyle Abbott, Hashim Amla, Farhaan Behardien, Quinton de Kock (wk), AB de Villiers, JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, David Miller, Chris Morris, Aaron Phangiso, Kagiso Rabada, Rilee Rossouw, Dale Steyn, David Wiese.