Head coach Mark Boucher will be hard pressed to place batsman Faf du Plessis back in the middle order during this month’s ODI series against India.

Du Plessis, who resigned from the ODI captaincy earlier this year, was rested for the recent series against Australia.

In the meantime, fellow middle-order batsman Jon-Jon Smuts, Kyle Verreynne and Heinrich Klaasen succeeded. All three have been retained for the tour of India, despite the return of Du Plessis.

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‘If you go to a place like India, you need to have a balance of youth and experience and I think Faf has done really well in one-day cricket for South Africa,’ said Boucher.

‘Him being around the squad will add a lot of value and experience as well. We’ll have a look, see the conditions and how we can put combinations together with regard to a batting lineup.

‘Why would you not want to have Faf in your set-up? He has done really well in Indian conditions.’

The tour will go ahead despite the threat posed by the spread of the coronavirus. The outbreak has had several global sporting events cancelled or postponed, including cricket’s Everest Premier League in Nepal.

‘If they feel it’s too dangerous, they [will] pull us out. We’ve got a medical staff to look after that. We had a brief last Friday about the virus going around and obviously it’s a major concern going around in the world,’ added Boucher.

‘We’re not medical, we don’t know medicine like they do, so we’ve taken their recommendations. We trust that they’re putting stuff in place that can help us.’

The first ODI will be played in Dharamsala on Thursday.

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