South Africa coach Mark Boucher said that the emphasis is on the Test series against Australia, and due to this, they might field a "watered-down" T20I team during the upcoming tour of Pakistan.
South Africa will play a two-match Test series against Pakistan, followed by three T20Is. The first T20I will be played on February 11 while the second and third will take place on February 13 and 14 respectively. Although the fixtures and venues for the Australia series are yet to be confirmed, provisional dates have the first Test scheduled to start on February 18, according to ESPN Cricinfo.
"It won't be our strongest team because the emphasis is on Test cricket against Australia, rightly so. It might be a watered-down T20 team. And that's not a bad thing. At the start of the season, I alluded to the fact that we are going to have to use a lot of players," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Boucher as saying.
"This is an opportunity for guys to put their hands up. We haven't played a lot of cricket, there haven't been a lot of A tours and even though it's not ideal to throw guys into the deep end and make them play international cricket when they are maybe not ready, there are not many other choices at the moment. Some will be pushed into the deep end and we will see how they respond," he added.
Boucher also said that the same will apply to the team management, with him coming back with Test players while assistant coach Enoch Nkwe staying back with the squad in Pakistan for the T20I series.
"The initial talk was that Enoch might stay over in Pakistan and finish off the series and I will come back. We are trying to split the management as well as we can to show the importance of both series. We are preparing for most of our management to come back and one or two of them staying over," he said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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