Express News Service
CHENNAI: Off late, it has become fashionable for teams to indulge in mind games before the start of any big series to have a psychological advantage over each other. In these challenging times, the mind plays a vital role in a player’s performance. Both teams have not yet revealed their playing XI.
Former India cricketer WV Raman, who has played in South Africa, in a chat with this daily said, “This is possibly the first time that they (South Africa) will start as underdogs in a home series, primarily because the current team lacks the balance that the sides of South Africa in the past always had.”
But Dean Elgar, the South African captain, begs to differ and argues that they will make full use of the home advantage. “I think it’s pretty even-stevens. Us (South Africa) playing at home obviously gives us a little bit of an upper hand,” said Elgar ahead of the first Test at Centurion.
“They are ranked No 1 in the world; that’s something they have been for quite some time. But the mere fact that we are playing in our backyard still gives us the upper hand going into the series,” added the 34-year old.
The Indian middle-order is brittle, with Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane and skipper Virat Kohli not at their best. Although India has a potent attack, their batters need to put runs on the board. And that is one area that South Africans will look to exploit.
“Their (India) strength, at the moment, lies in their bowling. We are extremely aware of that as well. They’ve had a lot of success as a bowling unit. Just knowing that we have our seamers and we’ve got a little bit of pace and bounce, and the wickets may be do a little bit more in South Africa than it does anywhere else around the world,” said Elgar.
In the post-apartheid era, India were the first team to tour South Africa under Mohammad Azharuddin in 1992. Since then, India have never won a Test series on South African soil. Kohli’s boys have done well in England and Australia and will go all out and try to maybe first team to beat the Proteas in their den.
“India having success in Australia and England is something we’re obviously wary of; they’ve improved a lot with regards to their travelling record. And I’m sure they’re going to try and fulfill it within this series. And as much as I have the power of being the leader of this team, I’m going to try and prevent them from fulfilling that dream of theirs,” said Elgar adding, “that makes an exciting and challenging series for both teams”.
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