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Poor start not a concern: Duminy

JP Duminy says the focus is on Friday's T20I opener after disappointing tour match

South Africa batsman JP Duminy says he is not worried despite the Proteas’ poor start to their 10-week tour of India.

The Proteas lost a Twenty20 warm-up match to a second-string side by eight wickets in New Delhi on Tuesday, as India A chased down a competitive 3-189 with two balls to spare.

“I think we would have loved the result to go our way but I was quite pleased with our first outing in India,” JP Duminy said after the match.

“Scoring 190, that was a good start with the bat for us, but yes we could have executed a little bit better with the ball but I don’t think it is something that we need to worry too much about.”

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South Africa will begin their 10-week tour of India in earnest on Friday with the first of three Twenty20 internationals, to be played in Dharamsala.

“The guys know where they went wrong during the match but there is still another three days to go before Friday so it’s important for us to make sure that we put in some good work leading into that first game, that first game is the most important thing for us,” Duminy said.

Duminy was particularly impressive in Tuesday’s warm-up match. After missing the Proteas’ limited-overs series against New Zealand last month while on paternity leave, Duminy smashed an unbeaten 68 off 32 balls.

“I haven’t played for a while so it was key for me to spend some time out in the middle,” he said.

“It’s only a warm-up game, yes I enjoyed it, but we have got to make sure that we put in the big performances on the big stage which is Friday.”

AB de Villiers (37 off 27 balls) and Faf du Plessis (42 off 27 balls) also impressed, but it is the Proteas young bowling attack who would learn the most from the experience, Duminy said.

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AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis impressed in the tour match // Getty Images

South Africa are without top fast bowlers Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel for the three-match T20 series, with both to join the side for the five-match ODI series that follows.

“I have no doubt that they have what it takes to win the series as a bowling department,” Duminy said.

“It was a nice opportunity for us to assess what is going to work and what is not going to work for us in these conditions.

“Marchant de Lange and Kyle Abbott would have played in these conditions during the IPL, while Kagiso (Rabada) may be new to these conditions so it’s important for him to understand what works and what doesn’t, to assess early on especially against a formidable line-up in the Indian team.”  

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The Proteas will have one final training session before the first T20I on Friday.

Weather and pitch conditions aside, it is the boisterous crowds which Proteas T20 skipper du Plessis thinks his younger players may have the most difficultly adapting to.

“A few of us are used to those crowds of 50,000 or 60,000 people, but for the younger guys it’s something to get used to,” du Plessis said.

“When you get there at the beginning of your career, the fans can be quite intimidating.

 “The challenge for us as a team is that we have a few younger players that haven’t travelled as much so we need to try and bridge that gap as quickly as possible.”