South Africa's Phehlukwayo opens up on how lockdown benefited him, reveals Test ambitions

South Africa's Andile Phehlukwayo has revealed that the COVID-forced lockdown has provided him with the perfect opportunity to work on himself, as he eyes a comeback to the Proteas side in the longer format of the game. The Proteas all-rounder, whose focus has been on white-ball formats of the game thus far, feels that he will be able to shine with the bat and ball as he comes armed with experience. South Africa were due to play India in March before the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic forced the series to be called off. 

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'I want to make an impact...'

Speaking to Sport24, the Proteas all-rounder revealed that one of his biggest motivation was to try becoming better and stronger and that he found this lockdown as the perfect opportunity to hone his skills, build on his fitness and work on stuff outside the field. With the T20 World Cup coming up, Phehlukwayo said that his focus would be on white-ball cricket and that his efforts would be directed towards being more consistent in ODIs and T20s. However, Phehlukwayo admitted that he had ambitions in finding a spot in South Africa's Test side and that he wanted to face that challenge in order to play for the side as long as it needs him. Further, the all-rounder called the red-ball format of the game as the ultimate game and said that he was eyeing to make an impact in the longer format of the game. The four-Test-old Phehlukwayo also revealed that he was eyeing to make 100 Test appearances. 

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"We're not perfect as cricketers and just to be blessed with over 50 games for my country at this age is fantastic. I need to look at that and be grateful," he said.

"Yes, there are a lot of things that I can work on and am still working on, but I also need to allow for time to take its place and not rush things," he added.

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