SA vs IND 2018: Very Good Chance of India Winning this Time in South Africa - Wriddhiman Saha

The man behind the stumps for India in Tests, Wriddhiman Saha claims he has hardly found any time to think about upcoming South Africa tour in between a busy schedule.

Saha rushed to join his state team Bengal ahead of the important semifinal clash against Delhi in Pune right after finishing the Test series against Sri Lanka. However, he was not drafted in the first eleven because of fever.

“Since we were in a hurry to go home, we really didn’t have any kind of team talk about the South Africa tour after wrapping up the Test series (against Sri Lanka) in Delhi,” Saha said while talking to Hindustan Times.

“There hasn’t been any specific preparation. The pitch or conditions in Pune won’t be similar to South African pitches, so there is no point thinking too much about it,” Saha further stated.

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With Sri Lanka series still going on, preparations for South Africa series has been far from ideal; however, Saha feels the Eden strip has helped them to get into the shape.

“The bounce will be different in South Africa. So the Eden Gardens Test helped in giving us an idea about the conditions. Once you start training there (South Africa), you get used to the bounce and movement,” Saha was heard saying, who will be touring to the Rainbow Nation for the first time with the Indian team though he has played there for India A side.

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The Indian Test squad will get a week to acclimatise themselves with the overseas conditions, as they will be leaving the country on December 27. India was scheduled to play a two-day warm-up match at Paarl; however, the team management opted to choose training session over the game, and Saha advocates the decision of the team management.

“If we had a two-day tour game, basically they would have batted one day, and we would have batted one day. And to ensure everybody got a knock, some of the batsmen would have had to retire after making 20 or 30. I don’t see anything great coming out of that. But that doesn’t mean we will not have a good training there,” the 33-year-old Saha mentioned.

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On a personal front, Saha had already started preparing for South Africa series, as he seemed not bothered with his batting slot.

“The way we have been playing the last 2-3 years and if we do our things right like the way we have been doing, I feel we have a very good chance of winning this time.” a confident Saha signed off talking about India chances of winning the series in South Africa.