Team India has never won a Test series in South Africa, and the upcoming series will be a golden opportunity for the visitors to change their history. But former India opener Gautam Gambhir feels that, for India to be successful, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will have to deliver the goods.
IND vs SA Test series begins on December 26 at Centurion. During an interaction on Star Sports, Gambhir said, “Pace, bounce and seam. I believe your batting will definitely be under pressure because South Africa probably do not have the same batting they had in 2011 but their bowling still has the might – (Kagiso) Rabada, (Gerald) Coetzee, (Nandre) Burger, and Marco Jansen.”
Gambhir went on to point out that outside Kohli and Rohit, there isn’t much experience with the Indian team. “I believe the pressure will be on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli because they have that experience. Bowlers definitely win you the series in South Africa but if your batters don’t put runs on the board, you won’t be able to create pressure for your bowlers.”
IND vs SA, 1st Test Squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat.’