Nagpur, March 10: South Africa opening batsman Hashim Amla looks to be in good form at the 2011 ICC World Cup, averaging 56.33 in his three innings in the tournament so far. Amla spoke to the media ahead of South Africa’s game against India on March 12 about playing against the home team and his own role in the squad.

Excerpts from the media interaction.

On his role in the squad

Fortunately before I started playing one-dayers I had played quite a few Test matches. I think from the experience point of view at the international level, it did help playing those Test matches. When I started I was a bit on the sidelines. I would see the way Graeme [Smith] and Herschelle [Gibbs] [would bat] and that gave me a good chance to see what I needed to be [a successful] opening batsman in a one-day game.

On the Nagpur wicket

We had a look at the wicket today as well as yesterday, it looks quite good. We know the scores are generally quite high in Nagpur. Also, it’s a big field square-wise so it looks like a good wicket.

On Team India

My apologies, I didn’t see any of the match [against Netherlands] but I think the Indian batters are a very good team. The Indian team is a very good team, of course. We played them five games back in South Africa. Sachin [Tendulkar], [Virender] Sehwag and [Gautam] Gambhir weren’t there but at least we had a feel of what to expect. But they are a world class unit and on a good cricketing wicket like the one we are expecting it’s going to be a good challenge for both our batsmen and bowlers. These are their home conditions and they are very familiar with that. But at the same time we all know that being at home brings a lot of other pressure as well as expectation. But that aside, we would […] do our best, just try and put the pressure on them and try to adapt our game [to the conditions].

On Jacques Kallis

I don’t think [his form] is a concern. Jacques is a world class player. You can’t judge a cricketer by the last [game]. He has been a kind of guy for the last 15 years who has been the rock in our team. [For] two or three game he hasn’t scored, I don’t think that troubles too many people. I think it is only a matter of time before he really scores and we joke that he is saving runs for the big game […] Jacques [Kallis] is an excellent player.