A balanced team will guide India to success in South Africa: Rahul Dravid

The upcoming South Africa tour will be a challenging one, as the Men in Blue have never succeeded in winning a Test series in the rainbow nation. The Indian team, of late, has enjoyed umpteen success, and their indomitable form in the recently concluded home-season serve as a testament to that. And as the Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team gears up for the South Africa tour, starting January 5 in Cape Town, former India captain Rahul Dravid firmly believes that ‘a balanced team’ will guide the visitors to success on their season’s first away tour.

The Men in Blue have never won a Test series in South Africa. A 1-1 draw in 2011 was their best result in those challenging conditions. Dravid, who scored 13,288 Test runs for India, is not worried much about the past results and believes the senior batsmen in the camp will lead the visitors to their maiden Test series win.

Speaking about the team’s chances in foreign conditions, Dravid told India TV in an exclusive chat, “They have a fair chance this time because it’s a balanced team. They’ve got good spinners, fast bowlers, and all-rounders. Our batsmen are also well experienced. I hope we put up a strong performance this time in South Africa.”

Dravid is confident of the Indian skipper Virat Kohli doing well in the series, “With the way Virat is playing right now, I hope he continues to make runs in South Africa as well. He has made a lot of runs in Australia, where we see playing conditions similar to South Africa. Every cricketer needs a bit of luck and if Virat gets it on the tour, I believe there will be no stopping,” Dravid said.

India needs to be wary of pace-friendly conditions

During the recently concluded home series against Sri Lanka, which India eventually won across all formats, the hosts appeared to be struggling in pace-friendly conditions in Kolkata and Dharamsala. The stint was enough for cricket pundits to raise questions over India’s readiness to play in foreign conditions in the new year 2018, which will see them touring South Africa, England, and Australia.

And in a bid to acclimatize to the South African conditions, India has picked up five pace specialists – Ishant, Umesh Yadav, Bhuveshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, for the three-Test series.

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