IND vs SA: Captain Dean Elgar says South Africa are “used to bad news”, won’t use it as an excuse vs India – South African captain Dean Elgar believes that the Proteas are used to off-field topics dominating headlines and will be prepared for the test series against India. The South African team have again been hit with a major scandal with former captains Graeme Smith, AB de Villiers and legendary wicket-keeper and current coach Mark Boucher labelled to have restored to racist behaviour as per SJN hearings. And while the situation is not ideal, Elgar reiterates that the team will not use off-field incidents as an excuse should they lose the series to India. Follow Insidesport.in for IND vs SA 1st Test LIVE Updates.
IND vs SA: Captain Dean Elgar says South Africa are “used to bad news”, won’t use it as an excuse vs India
Team India have never won a Test series in South Africa and should they do so on this trip, Proteas captain Dean Elgar said that the hosts won’t be using any excuses to defend themselves. Speaking ahead of the IND vs SA 1st Test, Elgar said, “As a player’s group we’ve got used to bad news around us the last year and a half. It’s not ideal to have these headlines. We want to focus on our cricket, focus on playing a really tough series.”
The Protas skipper that the team have bonded over the hardships they have faced and are focused on the three-Test series against India, starting with the Boxing Day Test at Centurion. Elgar said, “You try to implement a game plan with these kinds of things and you have to be sincere and trust that game plan. What’s happened off the field, for me, is irrelevant now. As a player’s unit, we’ve been through such crappy times, we’ve actually formulated a good bond in the group.”
IND vs SA: Captain Dean Elgar says South Africa are “used to bad news”, won’t use it as an excuse vs India
Elgar said that the side’s culture had been tested but the team has formulated something that clicks for them. The Proteas captain added that while things are not ideal off the field, but that cannot be used as an excuse to be slacking on the pitch and the team remains fully focused on the task at hand.
He said, “If all this stuff had happened in the first month – the bad scenarios – then maybe it might be (an excuse), but we’ve been there, and we’ve formulated something that has worked for us. As a player group we’re extremely strong. Our culture’s been tested, pushed to levels I didn’t think it would be pushed to in my short time as captain.”
Elgar added, “We’ve come out on top of it. It’s also about the learning processes behind that, we must still be mindful that even if things are bad off the field, we can’t use that as a cop-out. We are professionals, we must strive to reach those areas where we still want to go as a team. We want to go up the rankings, we are focused on cricket and hopefully cricket will look after us.”
IND vs SA: Captain Dean Elgar says South Africa are “used to bad news”, won’t use it as an excuse vs India
Cricket South Africa confirmed on Monday that no fans would be allowed into the stadiums for the three Tests, citing concerns over the high Covid-19 numbers in the country, which are being driven by the Omicron variant. Elgar was naturally disappointed with South Africa yet to play in front of home support, while the series against the Netherlands was called off.
Elgar said, “It’s pretty disappointing that we won’t have crowds. It’s very frustrating knowing that we won’t have people watching us (in the stadiums), and it’s pretty frustrating for the public as well. We are disappointed that we can’t showcase this great Test format in front of passionate supporters, even if it would only have been 2000 supporters, that is still better than nothing.”
IND vs SA: Captain Dean Elgar says South Africa are “used to bad news”, won’t use it as an excuse vs India
