South Africa cricket team, train in Mumbai to win against Sri Lanka

Keshav Maharaj

Cricket South Africa is leaving no stone unturned as far as their preparation for the Sri Lanka tour in July is concerned. On Sunday, a 16-member South African squad arrived in the city for a week-long camp where they will undergo dedicated training sessions on tackling spin.

While most of the SA players, who arrived here are domestic performers, there were also members of the Test squad, who did not get picked into the T20. Travelling with the team are SA internationals Temba Bavuma, Keshav Maharaj, Dane Piedt and Tabraiz Shamsi, and accompanying them are national coach Russell Domingo and batting coach Neil McKenzie. Yesterday, they had their first practice session at the DY Patil Stadium under the watchful eyes of former India offie Ramesh Powar, Mumbai Ranji Trophy coach Sameer Dighe and former Mumbai U-23 coach Vinayak Samant.

"It's a spin bowling camp. So, while the batsmen will focus on playing spinners, the bowlers will try to better their spin bowling. There are a few wicketkeepers as well, who want to improve their skills against spinners. Sameer and I are looking after the wicketkeepers, while Powar is training the spinners. We had a full day session of close to eight hours today," Samant told mid-day yesterday. South Africa will play two Tests, five ODIs and a one-off T20I against Sri Lanka. The last time the South Africans were in the Emerald Isle, back in 2014, they won the Test series 1-0.

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