Boucher 'not too worried' about Pakistan despite Babar's presence

South Africa head coach, Mark Boucher, is focusing on his own team’s strength and is unfazed by the threat posed by in-form Pakistan batsmen, Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan.

While speaking in a virtual press conference on Thursday, Boucher said Proteas have prepared plans to attack the Men in Green’s weaknesses in the ODI series, starting from Friday in Centurion.

“Pakistan have got some very dangerous characters. Babar Azam’s record speaks for itself. Rizwan had a very good series against us. But, we are in our conditions now, so we are not too worried about them. We have set our plans to counteract their strengths and also attack their weaknesses as well,” Boucher said.

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Boucher also believes it isn’t an ideal scenario that some of South Africa’s key players will leave after the second one-day international (ODI) against Pakistan, for the Indian Premier League (IPL).

These include players such as Kagiso Rabada (Dehli Capitals), Quinton de Kock (Mumbai Indians), Lungi Ngidi (Chennai Super Kings), David Miller (Rajasthan Royals) and Anrich Nortje (Dehli Capitals). The players were already not part of Proteas squad for the upcoming T20I series against Pakistan. A contract with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was cited by Boucher as a reason for their early departure.

“I didn’t make the decision to let the players go to the IPL. That’s a question people above me in authority can answer. There has been a long standing agreement between BCCI and CSA about the IPL. I think it could be in a document as well that our players are released to go to India. I wasn’t involved in that decision making but I do know that there is some sort of contractual agreement that we are just upholding,” he said.

“It isn’t ideal for preparation going into the T20 World Cup year. But I think we need to take positives out of it as well. These guys will be going to India and playing in a good competition, so they will be getting first-hand information about the different venues in India. It will also give us opportunity to test our bench strength,” he concluded.