Beware India! Dale Steyn is back in action and is gearing up to be fit for Tests

South Africa cricket team fast bowler Dale Steyn is hoping to make a comeback to the national side after the speedstar took four wickets in three Ram Slam T20 matches while featuring for Titans, giving away just 61 runs in the process.

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Steyn, who has missed almost a year of international cricket because of a niggling shoulder injury, will however miss Titans’ next game owing to the franchise’s rotation policy and for him to spend more time at the nets. While his performance so far has been deemed satisfactory, Steyn needs to bowl longer spells than ones that the shortest format allows one to in order to be fully fit for Tests.

With 417 Test wickets in his kitty, Dale Steyn is also just five scalps away from overtaking former Proteas captain Shaun Pollock to be become the leading wicket-taker for South Africa in Tests. South Africa have an eight-Test summer this season with India visiting them early next year.

Citing the significance, team manager Mohammed Moosajee admitted that all the quicks are required to start bowling longer spells.

“It’s not only Dale that needs to bowl more, all the bowlers need to up their volumes ahead of the Test matches,” he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “We have set plans for all the bowlers in terms of the numbers of balls and overs they need to bowl.”

Cricket South Africa have a policy under which players returning to the national side following an injury have to participate in some form of domestic cricket in order to prove their fitness.

Steyn, who will join Titans later in the tournament, however, has impressed Moosajee with his comeback so far. “If he plays enough in the T20 competition and bowls in the nets and maybe even plays a three-day provincial game, then I don’t see why not,” he further added.

First Published: Nov 24, 2017 12:51 IST