Winning confidence important for Proteas

Cape Town - Proteas captain, Hashim Amla, says it will be important to ‘get back to winning ways’ in the fourth Freedom Series Test match against India starting at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi on Thursday.

Although the selectors may be tempted to try other combinations for the series dead-rubber, winning remains the top priority for the squad which has one eye on the four-Test series against England starting at Sahara Stadium Kingsmead in Durban on Boxing Day.

“We have the England series on nearly two weeks after we get back home,” Amla said in Delhi on Wednesday. “It’s important for us to get back to winning ways, that is the key for us. Every Test match is an important match. There are no freebies in Test cricket and when you play for your country you want to make an impact and you want to win. It’s important for us to at least make it 2-1 to salvage some pride in this series.

“We came to India almost two-and-a-half months ago and started the tour off successfully with wins in the T20 and ODI series’, it would be nice to cap off the tour with a victory.”

In team news, Dale Steyn will miss the match after failing to recover from a groin injury that has kept him out of action since the middle of the first Test match in Mohali, while Kagiso Rabada could be given a break after playing in every match of the series.

 “KG (Rabada) has played a lot of the games,” Amla said. “It has been a great challenge for him and a great experience for him to play all of the games in his short career and to make such an impact. The selectors haven’t made a decision on what the team will look like so we will finalise that this evening.

 “You want to win every Test match so with every match you want to play your best XI,” he added. “Whether or not that necessitates changing the team to play your strongest XI then so be it. Test cricket is the ultimate level that you will play in this sport so if changing the team gives you the best XI then it will happen.”