South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has backed 'game-changer' Imran Tahir to match India's spin armoury ball for ball and help the Proteas begin their long tour with a win.
Du Plessis' side take on India in the first of three Twenty20 internationals at the picturesque HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala, with a further five one-day internationals and four Tests scheduled, in a bilateral meeting named the Mahatma Gandhi-Nelson Mandela Series.
Tahir is 13th in the International Cricket Council's T20 bowler rankings with India's Ravichandran Ashwin fourth, although the duo will have to battle the conditions on Thursday, when the series begins on the anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's birth.
The likes of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Du Plessis - himself ranked fourth in the list of batsmen - will be keen to set the boundaries alight with the Himalayan mountains as a backdrop, but South Africa's captain said in a press conference: "I believe our team is travelling to India with the knowledge that we have got a spinner who can also win us games.
"Imran Tahir has proven it right across the world that he changes games, especially in the white ball format. He has positively changed the past two years of South African cricket; he has changed the way we play.
"He has got us wickets in the middle overs where we have always relied on pace to strike for us. Now, certainly our success as a one-day team or T20 team weighs heavily on his shoulders."
In the shortest format, both sides will at some point be at the wrong end of the 'dew-factor' - especially in the high-altitude conditions at more than 1,200 metres above sea level.
Practice sessions with wet balls are the order of the day and Du Plessis added: "It was a big surprise last night coming to practice and seeing that the dew was there at half past six. I reckon it will be the same for both teams.
"Dew is never a nice thing for a bowling team or for a fielding team because the ball gets slippery. The ball doesn't spin as much, so hopefully the wet ball takes the advantage away from the Indian spinners and they play into our hands a little bit."
Du Plessis' India counterpart Mahendra Singh Dhoni, meanwhile, is confident his players can project the right kind of aggression and not fall foul of the game's authorities.
Relations between Indian and South African players are arguably at their highest, following several years of playing in different Indian Premier League franchises, and Dhoni said: "I think people think aggression is about saying something, or about physical contact.
"But aggression is not about that. Especially if you speak about Rahul Dravid, who said 'a good forward defence to a very fast bowler is an aggressive play'.
"All our guys are learning how to channel their aggression. It's good to be aggressive, but we have to follow the guidelines.
"We have to make sure everyone is available, and that no one gets a disciplinary action."
Source: PA
