Biriyani,chicken tandoori are not new for these S African players

Then there are three other budding South African players — Thomas Phillip Kaber,Shaun von Berg and Christiaan Frederik Schoeman — accompanying him as part of the exposure trip. The Delhi Daredevils team will take on Kings XI Punjab on Saturday at the PCA Stadium in Mohali. Last year in South Africa the Delhi Daredevils had a tie-up with Titan and these four players,who play for the first-class team,were selected for the exposure trip.

Like Mangaliso,Shaun Berg,the oldest of the four,likes to gorge on Indian food and though he is completely unaware of the Indian culture,he wants to try as much food as possible during the two-week stay in India.

“I love naan,roti and tandoori chicken. There’s this restaurant in Pretoria where I eat Indian food frequently and they also play Bollywood music,” said the 23-year-old who feels people in India are friendlier than the South Africans.

For Christiaan Schoeman,the information shared by his coaches and senior players came handy when he took batting sessions at the net in Delhi a day before. “The wicket was slow and low,unlike what we see in South Africa. I was trying to adjust myself to the condition and hopefully we will learn more about Indian conditions by speaking to Wayne Parnell,Albie Morkel and Roelof van der Merwe with whom we have played cricket,” said the southpaw.

The youngest of them,Thomas Kaber (17),however,is excited to see his favourite teams in action during the third season of the Indian Premier League (IPL). “Last year when the IPL matches were played in South Africa we tried not to miss any match,especially those played by the Delhi Daredevils and Royal Challengers. We play lots of T20 back in South Africa but IPL is the biggest thing to have happened in cricket in recent times. And IPL has proved a boon for Indian cricketers. Hopefully we will also play in IPL soon,” said the all-rounder,who is planning to learn the finer nuances of spin bowling from Amit Mishra.

Similarly,wicket-keeper Mangaliso was told by his coaches that keeping on Indian tracks was the most difficult in the world and they had advised him to pick up a few tips from Dinesh Karthik on how to keep wickets in sub-condition. The player who represented South Africa in the Under-19 World Cup held in Malaysia,hopes to do so in the next few practice sessions.

Daredevils reach Chandigarh

The Delhi Daredevil team reached Chandigarh on Thursday without their newly appointed skipper Gautam Gambhir,Virender Sehwag and Ashish Nehra who are in Mumbai. The team practiced at the PCA stadium,Mohali,in the evening.