After facing a forgettable defeat in the Johannesburg Test against India, South African team is in no mood to take India lightly in the upcoming ODI series. The Proteas batsman JP Duminy reflected on the same as he is expecting a close contest during the six-match ODI series.

The first ODI will be played at the Kingsmead Oval on Thursday and Team India will surely be looking to improve their record in the rainbow nation. Talking about the same, Duminy said, “India is a phenomenal ODI side and they’ve managed to compete in all conditions around the world. You don’t expect anything less from them. They have a few new faces and few young players but also a lot of talent.”

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He further elaborated, “They have been exposed to the IPL scene and they will be competitive in the series. Even though we won the first two Test matches, India competed and that’s what you want to see from high profile teams. India being the worlds No. 1 ranked team, you expect nothing less from them.”

Batsmen from both the teams found it difficult during the Test series on bowler-friendly tracks. Duminy said that the ODI pitches will be more batsmen friendly, but added that India’s top-order batsmen will have to improve their poor showing from 2013. He said, “The pitches are going to be more batsmen friendly, I think. The key fundamentals for me in One-day cricket are partnerships with ball and bat. The team that gets that right has the best chance of winning.”

South Africa will also be targetting to prepare for the upcoming ICC 2019 World Cup as this ODI series begins. Talking about the same, JP said that a lot of changes have happened in how teams now approach their middle overs. He said, “It depends on the makeup of your team. If you look back to a team like England, who bats quite deep they probably bat until 10 or 11 at times I guess they can afford to lose a couple of wickets in the middle in trying to be a little aggressive. And that’s worked for them over a period of time.”

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Talking about the Word Cup further, the southpaw said, “There’s going to be a lot of shifting I would think leading up to the World Cup so guys will want to understand their role, understand their game and understand what brand of cricket we want to play going into 2019. It’s going to be an intriguing phase not only for our team but for all teams.”

When asked about his reunion with Mumbai Indians at the 2018 IPL, Duminy replied, “Obviously I have been part of the IPL for a number of years so playing against the Indian team, you do end up playing against a lot of your potential teammates in the IPL. But right now, you know you’re going to be competitive, you want to win and you want to put big performances against the opposition. I don’t think we will see anything different.”