IPL battle-hardened Proteas ready to take on India at Eden Gardens, says Shukri Conrad

Proteas coach Shukri Conrad believes his inexperienced Test side will not be overawed by the occasion of facing India at the cauldron of Eden Gardens in the first Test on Friday due to their involvement in the IPL. 

Eight members of the Proteas Test squad - just over half - have never played a Test in India before. However, five of the aforementioned lot, namely Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Marco Jansen, Dewald Brevis and Corbin Bosch, have all sampled the IPL with their respective franchises over the last few years. 

Conrad, who has only been to India once previously with the Cape Cobras for the inaugural T20 Champions League back in 2009, believes the IPL experience will benefit his players both on and off the field. 

“I think previously you come to India as a newbie and not having experienced India before, you can be in awe, you can be taken aback by the occasion,” Conrad told the media, on Wednesday. 

“I think because our guys are comfortable in the environment, they're comfortable with the opposition they play against because of their involvement in the IPL. I certainly believe that it does make it slightly easier for us to adapt to conditions. It's not foreign to a lot of these guys and certainly the opposition aren't foreign.

“I'm expecting an evenly fought contest. It’s still going to be helluva difficult. But we're quite confident that we can make history of our own here and even go on to win in India.”

Conrad also feels that his side are better equipped than ever to front up to the Indian challenge in subcontinent conditions due to the spin arsenal the Proteas now have at their disposal in Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer and Senuran Muthusamy.

“I think previously, and this is not saying that we didn't have good spinners in the past, but we certainly think we've got a better pack of spinners now in Keshav, Simon and Sen,” he said.

“I think it gives us a lot of confidence that if the conditions are what the gentleman in the previous question thinks it's going to be, that we feel that we've got the armoury to obviously challenge India in that respect as well.”

Conrad was also under no illusions that facing India at home is comfortably the biggest challenge his side have encountered, equating it to the World Test Championship final against Australia at Lord’s earlier this year. 

“India are a tough challenge anywhere in the world. And when you come to an iconic venue like Eden Gardens, it just makes it even tougher. I don't think you can compare the quality of the sides we played against to India,” he said.

“We had the final against Australia that we won, which was massive. I compare this series and this match to that final. That's how big it is for us. I don't think there's been a bigger challenge.”

SQUADS FOR EDEN GARDENS

Proteas: Temba Bavuma (capt), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Tony de Zorzi, Zubayr Hamza, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne.

India: Shubman Gill (capt), Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper, vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep.