Farhaan Behardien named South Africa captain for T20Is against Sri Lanka

Cricket South Africa (CSA) has taken a very bold step when they named the 13 man squad for the first two T20Is against Sri Lanka. Middle order batsman Farhaan Behardien has been given the responsibility of the team as captain. South Africa will play 3 T20Is against Sri Lanka this month after the Test series. The series commences on January 20 at the Supersport Park. The squad also includes a wholesale of fresh faces.

JJ Smuts, the leading run-getter of the South African domestic T20 trophy this year, has been rewarded with the national call-up. As many as 6 new faces have been drafted into the side. The CSA mentioned that the decision to rest senior players from the squad was made after considering the long international series ahead. The CSA selection convener Linda Zondi mentioned that the ODI series that follows the T20Is is the one that the seniors will take part in.

The ODI series will help the team build up to their preparations for the Champions Trophy later this year. Zondi further added that the senior players might not get any rest at all due to their long season that includes the IPL as well. Hence, the decision to rest the big names is very calculative.

“We have decided to rest some of our key senior players for this series. This is the last chance we have to do this as the Momentum ODI series that follows is an important part of our build up to the ICC Champions Trophy tournament in England in the middle of the year,” quoted the CSA convener.

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“Those senior players who are involved in the Indian Premier League will be playing non-stop from now until the end of August with the tours coming up to New Zealand and England in addition to the ICC event,” Zondi added.

Talking about the newly appointed captain, Behardien, the CSA convener mentioned that he has been a consistent performer. Their first choice was David Wiese but Wiese informed that he is in talks with a county team for a Kolpak deal.

“Farhaan was one of the standout players in our franchise T20 Challenge, being the second leading run scorer being Jon Jon Smuts and having the best strike rate. David Wiese was one of our original selections but he has informed us that he intends to take up a Kolpak contract and has therefore been withdrawn from the squad,” quoted CSA.

Lastly, they also added that AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel were unavailable for selection. They will play the domestic matches by the end of the month before making a comeback to the national side. “Both AB de Villiers and Morne Morkel are due to resume playing at domestic level later this month and could come into contention for the third T20,” concluded Zondi.

South Africa Squad for first two T20Is against Sri Lanka:

Farhaan Behardien (C), Theunis de Bruyn, Reeza Hendricks, Imran Tahir, Heino Kuhn, David Miller, Mangaliso Mosehle, Lungi Ngidi, Wayne Parnell, Dane Paterson, Aaron Phangiso, Andile Phehluwayo, Jon Jon Smuts.