World Cup-bound SA banking on players' IPL experience

The remainder of the IPL 2021 will be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from September 19 to October 15. It will be immediately followed by T20 World Cup from October 17 to November 14 with 39 of the 45 matches to be held in the UAE. 

"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.com. 

"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. It will be a great experience as long as guys look after themselves and peak at the right time."

Many of the Proteas senior players will be participating in the IPL which will help the entire squad get an idea about the pitch and conditions. 

SA's frontline pace attack will be featuring in the cash-rich tournament. Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje will all play in the IPL. So would be batsmen David Miller, Aiden Markram and wicketkeeper-batsman Quinton de Kock. 

Boucher added that his team is not a finished product yet. This is despite them winning three T20 series in a row -- against Sri Lanka most recently (3-0) and against Ireland (3-0) and West Indies (3-2) before that.

"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 (seven) by a South African team. That was one of the records that we were playing for. We understand that going into a World Cup each game is as important as the others and this becomes a habit. This is just part of the growth of the team."