Virat Kohli.
Virat Kohli. Credits: Twitter

India National Cricket Team head coach Rahul Dravid is hoping to see Virat Kohli make a comeback in the third Test against South Africa after missing the second Test due to back spasms.

India won the first Test of the series at SuperSport Park, Centurion, South Africa won the second Test at the Wanderers, Johannesburg and the third and last Test will be a series decider which will be played from January 11-15, at the Newlands, Cape Town.

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Cheteshwar Pujara, Rahul Dravid.
Cheteshwar Pujara, Rahul Dravid. Image-BCCI

After India’s 7-wicket loss in the Johannesburg Test, head coach Dravid in a virtual press conference said:

Virat Kohli should be fine from all accounts, he should be fine. He has had the opportunity to run around a little bit, he has had the opportunity to test it a little bit. Hopefully, with a couple of net sessions in Cape Town, he should be good to go. Everything I am hearing and just having a chat with him, he should be good to go in four days time.”

Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid (Image Credit: Twitter)

Dravid was asked about his take on India’s batting performance in the series so far, to which replied by saying it has been a challenging surface for both sides and India scoring 55-60 more runs in the first innings of the Johannesburg Test could have made a huge difference. Dravid was also hoping to see India bat a ” little better”. He said:

 “It has been challenging wickets for both the teams, South Africa’s fourth innings was probably their best with the bat. Yes, as a batting unit we can look to seize a few key moments and when we get partnerships, we can look to make them longer. It was challenging in the first innings but we could have gotten 55-60 runs more which could have made a huge difference.”

“Certainly, we would like to bat a little better. Maybe the guys who got starts could have converted them into 100s. That was the difference in the first game, we had Rahul scoring century for us and we ended up on the winning side. Dean Elgar scored 96 in this Test and South Africa ended up on the winning side.”

Hanuma Vihari Played Really Well In Both The Innings – Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid. (Photo: BCCI)

Indian middle-order batsman Hanuma Vihari finally got the opportunity to play Test for India after his SCG heroics and Dravid opined that he ” played really well in both the innings”. Rahul Dravid asserted:

“Hanuma Vihari played really well in both the innings. He batted beautifully in the second innings, Shreyas Iyer batted well for us in the past. The guys have to take heart from the fact that they are doing well when the opportunity is presenting itself. It happens, it is the nature of the sport and we can take confidence from the way Vihari batted in this game.”

Rahul Dravid further added:

“I would not say we were complacent in this game, we were in this game. We felt 240 in the final innings would not be easy to defend, but with little bit of luck, we would have had much better chance. It is something an area we can look to get better at, but I would not put it down to being complacent.”

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Sonanchal Gautam is the Assistant Content Manager at Cricketaddictor. He is a professional Wrestling and Hip-hop enthusiast.