SA vs IND 2018: South Africa tour is not going to be easy: Rohit Sharma

With Team India gearing up for its most challenging assignments in recent times, Rohit Sharma believes the team has all its bases covered.

The team is yet to lose a Test series under Virat Kohli’s captaincy since he led the team against Sri Lanka in 2015 which was his first full series as captain. India had won that series 2-1 which was their first Test series win in Sri Lanka after 22 years. After that, the Kohli-led side had defeated South Africa 3-0 before the mammoth 2016-17 season where they defeated West Indies (2-0), New Zealand (3-0), England (4-0), Bangladesh (1-0) and Australia (2-1). The winning streak continued in the ongoing season too as the world number one side defeated Sri Lanka in two series and are brimming with confidence ahead of the series against the Proteas.

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Expectations are high that the current team can end India’s long wait for their first series win in South Africa and Rohit is confident of a good performance.

“Yeah, I think so (all the bases covered) . Most importantly, we have toured this place before with almost the same squad. We have to take it one tour at a time. We have a good pace attack and batting line-up,” Rohit told Hindustan Times.

There will be times in South Africa when we will be challenged as a team. We have to stand up to that. When you tour these places it is not easy, but again, we have been there, we know what to expect and that will give us a lot of confidence,” he added.

One thing that can affect India’s chances in South Africa are the lack of preparations. Barring Sri Lanka, India have not played against any opposition and will not get enough time to acclimatise with the conditions in the African country. However, Rohit, while admitting that the team would have liked to prepare in a better manner, said that the players are mentally ready for the series.

“I don’t think it will affect anyone mentally, but skill-wise we can say so. Ideally, anyone would like to have time to prepare well. But now we have to go ahead and do what is in front of us. We cannot do much about it,” he said.

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“Mentally, guys are ready for whatever lies ahead. Having played with them, I understand nobody thinks about all these things, it is about going out and doing what we need to do. There are things we control but things that are not in control, no point wasting time and energy into that. We know we have six days, we will try and make the most of it, whether it is two net sessions in a day or spending 4-5 hours in the field,” he added.

When asked about the team’s batting preparation for the pacy and bouncy South African wickets, Rohit said every team struggled on such pitches before stating that he and his teammates strive for such challenges.

“South Africa is not going to be easy. It is not just India, any team which has been put on a pacy and bouncy track will struggle to score runs, it is the nature of the game. We have seen that in the Ashes, in that day-night Test at Adelaide everybody struggled except one or two batsmen. There can be such situations where one or two batsmen will bail you out.

“That is the kind of challenge we want, to play on challenging pitches and conditions. So what if you fail as a team to deliver, there is always learning from that. We said before the start of the Sri Lanka Test series that we wanted to play on challenging pitches and Kolkata was a perfect start. We did not do well, but we got to learn so much. It was a good way to look at the South Africa tour,” he added.

India’s in-form batsmen will have their task cut out against South Africa’s pace attack which is one of the best in the world. While India’s performance on bouncy tracks against Sri Lanka raised a lot of eyebrows, South Africa have sent a timely reminder by defeating Zimbabwe within two days in the inaugural four-day Test.

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With the likes of Kagiso Rabada, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and other quality bowlers in their ranks, the Proteas will pose a stiff challenge for the Indian batsman, and Rohit is well aware of it.

“Their bowling attack is the most challenging (one) in the world right now. Any home team tends to put a lot of pressure on the touring side. It will be Rabada, Steyn, and one between (Vernon) Philander and (Morne) Morkel. They might play also an all-rounder like Chris Morris,” he said.

Many feel that the current Indian side can create history in South Africa and Rohit also believes the same as he said:

” I agree because it is the best pace attack we have. We believe we can take 20 wickets. These 5-6 bowlers have played together for a number of years now, and are one of the reasons why we are No 1.

“We have played at home but you still have to use the conditions to your advantage. We have lost only one Test this year, the consistency shows our bowlers have been able to take wickets. I don’t know how much of a role the spinners will have, but the fast bowlers need to step up,” he added.

The Test series will get underway on January 5 in Capetown before both the teams lock horns in six One-Day Internationals and three T20 Internationals.

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