South Africans in IPL have to stay disciplined, peak at the right time as a unit, says coach Mark Boucher

South Africa head coach Mark Boucher has said that he expects members of the squad that will go to the T20 World Cup and are set to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) to stay disciplined. The second half the 2021 IPL starts on Sunday and the final is scheduled to be played on October 15.

The first round of the T20 World Cup then starts on October 17 with the first match to be hosted in the UAE to be scheduled for October 18. The Super 12 stage, which marks the start of the tournament for South Africa and most other top teams, then starts on October 23.

“We’ve spoken to the guys going to the IPL. They need to stay quite disciplined and realise we want to peak at the right time as a unit,” Boucher was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

“They’ll be picking up bits of information about playing in those conditions that will really get them ready for a big tournament and if they manage themselves well and get some good time in the nets and get used to facilities it will stand us in good stead.”

South Africa go into the T20 World Cup on the back of series wins against Sri Lanka, West Indies and Ireland.

“This team realised that we are definitely not the finished product, so there’s a lot of things we speak about,” Boucher said.

“We had a good chat about the lessons we’ve learnt and where we want to go as a team. We tied the record for the most T20 wins by a South African team. That was one of the records that we were playing for,” he said.