IND vs SA LIVE – Rahul Dravid’s Special Class: Virat Kohli & Indian team is attempting to conquer their FINAL FRONTIER. For the same, coach Rahul Dravid was seen drafting & discussion the team strategy, pitch and also the playing XI in open at SuperSport Park on Friday – Follow INDIA vs South Africa Boxing Day Test LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN
Dravid has brought in two white-boards to the ground & was seen discussing TEAM-STRATEGY for the match.
The entire team including captain Virat Kohli was completely in attention as Dravid was seen pointing at the message written on the WHITE-BOARDS.
The pictures were exactly from Rahul Dravid’s playing days. Exactly the same way then coach Gary Kirsten use to take ‘OPEN-SESSIONS’ with his squads.
Kirsten was also in a habit of using WHITE-BOARDS during the sessions & Dravid it seems has taken a leaf out of his book.
INDIA vs SOUTH AFRICA LIVE: The three-match Test series starts at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Sunday. South Africa is the only regular Test-playing nation where India have yet to win a series.
“We have worked really hard to win series away from India,” said vice-captain KL Rahul at India’s pre-match press conference on Friday.
💬 💬 We’ve had a great week of preparation. Vice-captain @klrahul11 takes us through how #TeamIndia is getting int… https://t.co/8bZQqLD0Lu
— BCCI (@BCCI) 1640351430000
“We’ve won series in England and Australia, which gives us a lot of confidence. We haven’t won a series in South Africa, which gives us extra motivation to do our best.”
Will it be Home Advantage for South Africa? South African captain Dean Elgar said he thought the teams were evenly matched.
“India are number one in the world for a reason but the fact that we are playing in our own back yard gives as an advantage.”
Despite losing to New Zealand in last year’s world Test championship final, India are the top-ranked Test team, five places ahead of South Africa, who have lost several key players to retirement in recent years.
Kohli leads an experienced side. Crucially, it has the fast-bowling fire power to match South Africa’s in conditions which usually favour pace.
No fewer than ten of India’s 18-man squad have toured South Africa before.
Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav and reserve wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha are on their fourth tour of the country.
Ajinkya Rahane and Mohammed Shami are on their third tour, while Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah were part of the closely-contested 2017/18 series which South Africa won 2-1.
“We know what to expect and we’ve had great preparation,” said Rahul.
“The pace and bounce is very different to other countries and it was very important that we came here early and had preparation in the middle.”
Rahul indicated India were likely to maintain their recent strategy of picking five bowlers, which he acknowledged would lead to a “very difficult discussion” about settling on five specialist batsmen.
South Africa Playing XI? South Africa’s fast bowling remains their strength but the loss of Nortje is a major blow.
Much will depend on former world number one Kagiso Rabada, whose form in the past two years has been moderate. The hosts will also hope the injury-plagued Lungi Ngidi can recapture the form which enabled him to take 6-39 on debut against India at the same venue in 2017/18.
In South Africa’s favour, Centurion has been a fortress for the home side, with 21 wins and only two defeats in 26 Tests at the venue.
Rahul Dravid Press Conference LIVE: Team India coach to address the media…
IND vs SA LIVE – Teams:
South Africa (likely): Dean Elgar (captain), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wkt), Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Duanne Olivier, Lungi Ngidi.
India (from): Virat Kohli (captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Shreyas Iyer, Risabh Pant (wkt), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Siraj, Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav, Jayant Yadav, Priyank Panchal, Wriddhiman Saha (wkt).
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