My advice to the openers is to leave the right number of balls. Remember they play with Kookaburra balls and I can tell you that on those pitches they come to you quite quickly. Staying on those wickets is very important. In Test matches it is very vital to play the first 20 to 30 overs cautiously. Though it may come as a surprise but I think they are good pitches for batting too. - Sandeep Dwivedi

Dighe to Dhoni: Keeping easy, batting tough

Wicketkeeper-batsman Sameer Dighe has painful memories of the 2001 tour as back spasms meant an early flight back home. Despite the short stay, Dighe observed the conditions there and says that the true nature of wickets makes keeping easy but it is only a technically sound batsman who can succeed in South Africa. That means MS Dhoni has his work cut out

For any batsman to succeed in those conditions, the most important aspect is to be mentally very strong and technically accomplished. Deep Dasgupta showed that during the tour. To survive against the top quality pacers, sound technique was the only possible method. The stronger the technique, the better the performance. Wicket-keeping shouldn’t be a problem. On sub-continent wickets, bounce varies but on those wickets, like in Australia, the bounce remains the same except for maybe the fourth or the fifth day. - K Shriniwas Rao

Connor Williams to Raina: Pulls and Cuts

Connor Williams’ brush with international cricket was brief, almost negligible. He played a side game during the tour and had scores of 2 and 43. But on his return he was a wiser batsman. According to him the strokes that can fetch a batsman runs there are “the pull and the cut” since it’s rare to get a half-volley in South Africa. Something Suresh Raina should remember

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