IND beat SA 1st Test: 2021 Best for India Cricket – From a near-impossible win at the Gabba with a second-string side to walloping a hapless South Africa in their own backyard, 2021 has been a special year for the India Test team. Despite the lows of T20 World Cup and Virat Kohli vs BCCI tiff, India’s four famous victories have been the highlights. India’s Test vice-captain on SA tour, KL Rahul hailed 2021 as “one of the greatest in Indian cricket”. Follow India vs South Africa Live Updates on InsideSport.IN.
Between the start and finish of the year, India also recorded creditable Test victories at the Lord’s and the Oval while Virat Kohli & Co are the No 1 Test side in ICC rankings.
“It’s a super, super special year for team India. The kind of achievements that we have gotten this year has been truly special. I think it will go down as one of the greatest years in Indian cricket history. It has taken a lot of hard work and discipline. We have worked really hard as a team for a few years,” KL Rahul said at the post-match press conference.
IND beat SA 1st Test: After Centurion triumph, KL Rahul declares, ‘2021 will go down as one of the greatest years in Indian cricket’
KL Rahul was an architect in all these milestones wins on more than one occasion. He had scored a hundred in India’s win at the Lord’s.
Having set the tone with his first-innings hundred, the stand-in vice-captain for the South Africa series summed up the year when the Indian team became the first Asian nation to win a Test at the Centurion.
The great dressing room atmosphere has also contributed to a great performance and not to forget the preparation part, said Rahul.
IND beat SA 1st Test: After Centurion triumph, KL Rahul declares, ‘2021 will go down as one of the greatest years in Indian cricket’
“Yes, the dressing room atmosphere is amazing at the moment. It is a great Test victory. No Asian team has come here and won in Centurion and (it speaks of) kind of work we have put in, in the last two weeks leading up to this Test match. We worked really hard as a team and we really had a lot of fun at training and at practice,” KL Rahul said.
🗣️🗣️ “2021 has been a special year for us.”
Vice-captain @klrahul11 sums up 2021 for #TeamIndia and speaks about the historic win at Centurion👍#SAvIND pic.twitter.com/B9glXK36Xe
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 30, 2021
Rahul termed it as a complete team performance having set the tone in the first game of the series. The second Test starts in Johannesburg on January 3.
“To go out there in the first game of the series and put up a performance like that which is a complete team performance, it makes us happy. We can enjoy this victory for a day and get back to training and start focussing on the next Test match,” KL Rahul said.
IND beat SA 1st Test: After Centurion triumph, KL Rahul declares, ‘2021 will go down as one of the greatest years in Indian cricket’