India A tour of South Africa 2013: Duncan Fletcher to join the Indian side

Duncan Fletcher, Indian cricket coach

Duncan Fletcher, the Indian cricket coach will tour with India A for both their unofficial four-day Tests in South Africa against the A team of South Africa, according to reports by ESPN Cricinfo.

The two matches are scheduled to take place in Rustenburg from August 17 and 20, and Pretoria from August 24 and 27 respectively.

Cheteshwar Pujara, the India A captain is boosted by the A team’s recent ODI success and is confident of his team’s performance in the unofficial Tests also. “Winning the ODI series has given us a confidence boost going into the four-day series,” Pujara said. “We played really well throughout that series, except for a couple of close games against Australia that we lost.”

On the other hand, South Africa didn’t fare well in the ODI tri-series, finishing at the bottom of the table. Their captain Justin Ontong said, “We had a disappointing ODI series but in saying that I still think we played good cricket, it was particularly hard for the bowlers on those sort of decks, but I think we took a lot of lessons from that experience.”

“We are in a very good space as a unit,” he added. “Our four-day disciplines are where we want them to be. We are encountering new opposition, so it is a new challenge for us, and also a new opportunity for players to put in some noteworthy performances.”