Proteas batsman Janneman Malan says the team have their minds set on gaining valuable qualifying points in the three-match one-day international series against India starting in Lucknow on Thursday (10am).
Malan is part of the 15-man squad facing off against India in a crucial ODI series that will count towards their bid to gain automatic qualification to the 2023 ICC Men’s World Cup to be hosted in India in October 2023.
“Everyone knows how important the next eight games are for the Proteas in the ODI format,” Malan said.
“We will obviously try to maximise points from all the matches and with the World Cup being in India, it is nice to put in some good prep and performances.”
Malan said his own focus was on giving his best for the team.
“You cannot control things like the result, but you can your effort, so hopefully I can put in good performances to get us wins and potentially gain automatic qualification,” Malan told an online CSA media briefing on Wednesday.
“We do a lot of work preparing for the games, assessing conditions [and that sort of thing].
“I have heard that we will play at a big field for the first ODI, so we will keep that in mind.
“There is also a bit of [inclement] weather around, so we are preparing for an on-and-off match.
“So [our preparations] are specific to every match.”
While there has been much talk around various issues within the Proteas camp in recent weeks, Malan said they did not place too much focus on that and tried to narrow their focus.
“As a Proteas camp, we are pretty clear on how we want to approach things.
“We almost want to be in a submarine and all of these things and the outside noise are outside of our control.
“We want to keep things in a good space,” he said.
Malan said the shift from the T20s to the ODI format should be reasonably seamless.
“It is not that much of a different mindset.
“We know exactly what we need to do to qualify, but when it is just normal matches the pressure is still there to perform, so it won’t be the biggest change in mindset,” he said.
Proteas squad to face India: Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi.
HeraldLIVE
Proteas chasing vital qualifying points
SA aiming to use ODI series to bolster bid for automatic entry into 2023 World Cup, batsman says
Image: SEB DALY/GALLO IMAGES
Proteas batsman Janneman Malan says the team have their minds set on gaining valuable qualifying points in the three-match one-day international series against India starting in Lucknow on Thursday (10am).
Malan is part of the 15-man squad facing off against India in a crucial ODI series that will count towards their bid to gain automatic qualification to the 2023 ICC Men’s World Cup to be hosted in India in October 2023.
“Everyone knows how important the next eight games are for the Proteas in the ODI format,” Malan said.
“We will obviously try to maximise points from all the matches and with the World Cup being in India, it is nice to put in some good prep and performances.”
Malan said his own focus was on giving his best for the team.
“You cannot control things like the result, but you can your effort, so hopefully I can put in good performances to get us wins and potentially gain automatic qualification,” Malan told an online CSA media briefing on Wednesday.
“We do a lot of work preparing for the games, assessing conditions [and that sort of thing].
“I have heard that we will play at a big field for the first ODI, so we will keep that in mind.
“There is also a bit of [inclement] weather around, so we are preparing for an on-and-off match.
“So [our preparations] are specific to every match.”
While there has been much talk around various issues within the Proteas camp in recent weeks, Malan said they did not place too much focus on that and tried to narrow their focus.
“As a Proteas camp, we are pretty clear on how we want to approach things.
“We almost want to be in a submarine and all of these things and the outside noise are outside of our control.
“We want to keep things in a good space,” he said.
Malan said the shift from the T20s to the ODI format should be reasonably seamless.
“It is not that much of a different mindset.
“We know exactly what we need to do to qualify, but when it is just normal matches the pressure is still there to perform, so it won’t be the biggest change in mindset,” he said.
Proteas squad to face India: Temba Bavuma (captain), Quinton de Kock (wicketkeeper), Reeza Hendricks, Heinrich Klaasen, Keshav Maharaj, Janneman Malan, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Wayne Parnell, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi.
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