India vs South Africa: De Kock says prepare for the worst against spin

Johannesburg, September 6: Spin threat will be looming large over South Africa in the upcoming series against India, and opener Quinton de Kock warned the players to "prepare for the worst" during their tour of India this month.

The Proteas will begin their tour with a three-match T20I series, the first of which will be held at Dharamsala on September 15. It will be followed by a three-Test series beginning with the first game at Visakhapatnam on October 2.

"From our side what we are going to do is to make sure that we prepare for the worst," said De Kock, who will be leading the T20 side in the absence of Faf du Plessis.

"To be honest I don't know what we are going to get. In T20s I don't think it will spin that much because in the IPL they prepare pretty good wickets.

"But Test matches are a different story and it could end up turning on day one. It is more of a mental thing and not being caught up too much on whether it is spinning or not that is what it boils down to."

Questions were raised regarding the quality of surfaces after South Africa lost 0-3 in the Test series in their last tour of India four years ago. The Tests at Mohali and Nagpur didn't last five days with the South Africa batsmen falling prey to the Indian spinners. In fact, the Nagpur pitch had received 'poor' rating from the ICC.

"The last time we were there guys didn't really expect those type of surfaces but this time around we will have a little bit of head start about that" De Kock said.

"We will keep our eyes open and make sure that we are a little bit better than last time. I am not sure if they are going to prepare similar or better wickets than the last time we were there."