Proteas ready for India’s Durban backlash

Durban (S. Africa), - The South African cricket team is prepared to face a possible backlash from India’s experienced and formidable batting line-up in the Boxing Day Test to be played at Kingsmead, Durban from Sunday.

South African skipper Graeme Smith said that expected Indian to be better, especially after the visitors had suffered an innings and 25 run defeat in the Centurion Test last week.

“After what happened in the first Test I expect them to be better, especially from a batting perspective, as they will know what to expect,” News24.com quoted Smith, as telling a news conference before the match starting on Sunday.

“India are an experienced team and I expect them to come out fighting in the next Test and I expect them to use their experience to bounce back. We can’t afford to take anything for granted in terms of how we expect them to go,” he added.

South Africa do not have an impressive recent record in Durban having lost their last two matches at Kingsmead by significant margins.

In last year’s Boxing Day test they were trounced by England by an innings and Australia won by a convincing margin of 175 runs.

Smith said that while he was aware of South Africa’s woes at Kingsmead he was confident that his team had put those performances behind them. (ANI)