South Africa captain Aiden Markram says his side can expect to have a target on their back when they begin a new cycle of the World Test Championship (WTC) as defending champions.
South Africa play a two-Test series in Pakistan, starting on Sunday, and two games in India in November as they bid to retain the trophy they won in June by beating Australia by five wickets at Lord’s.
The WTC is decided at the end of a two-year cycle, with the top two teams competing in a one-off Test match.
“I suppose you create a bit of a target on your back if you’ve won (the WTC), and if that’s the case, it’s fair. We want to chase a place in the final again and lift that trophy once again but realise each team will be coming for us,” said Markram, who stands in as skipper for Temba Bavuma who has been ruled out of the tour with a calf strain.
As leading run-scorer, Bavuma provides stability and experience at No.4.
“We, as a team, have to keep getting better and improving and playing well in all different types of conditions. It starts for us in Pakistan, and it’s a challenge the boys will be up for,” he told a press conference on Monday.
South Africa have been practising on specially prepared spinning wickets at Pretoria’s High Performance Centre.
“There were a couple of nets prepared where the spin is really exaggerated, and you’d rather err on that side, and maybe then it’s a bit easier when we get to Pakistan,” Markram said.
“We’re expecting to face a lot of spin over there, and it’s also, naturally, a lot lower there from a seam point of view. There’s a lot of skiddy, so it’s hard to try and emulate that here in South Africa, but we’ve been looking to put a lot of emphasis on finding a way to train for that.”
Markram said Pakistan have every right to exploit their home conditions.
“If it’s your home game, you can pretty much prepare whatever wicket you’d like to prepare. That’s how I see it,” Markram said. “Ultimately, if it’s going to be extreme like it was in the English series, then it’s going to be difficult for both teams from a batting point of view.
“For us as a squad, we’ve just got to be happy with what we have, whatever the conditions look like and to back whoever it is on the day to get the job done. So I’m not too fussed by it.”
Markram’s reference to “the English series,” was to this time last year, when Pakistan hosted England. After losing the first Test, Pakistan won the next two on pitches that turned square.
South Africa have also picked a spin-heavy squad, which includes left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy and off-spinners Simon Harmer and Prenelan Subrayen. “They’re all quite different. If you look at the two off-spinners to start with, Simon and Subs, especially having faced them now where it is spinning, it’s two completely different challenges they throw at you. That’s something great to have as a squad,” Markram said.
“You don’t really want similar types of spinners. They are each quite different, different paces, different types of spin in terms of side spin and overspin and stuff like that, which reacts differently off the wickets. They’ll play a massive role there if what we’re expecting is going to be the case.”
South Africa’s first-choice spinner Keshav Maharaj will only join the squad for the second Test, and they will have four specialist spin options.
The first Test against Pakistan is in Lahore and the second begins on October 20 in Rawalpindi.
Written with Reuters inputs