The conditions would be very different in South Africa says Wriddhiman Saha

Virat Kohli’s men have had a sensational run in the recent calendar year with some dominating performances. But the real big challenge awaits them when they travel overseas next year. Team India will be touring South Africa to lock horns in 3 Tests, 6 ODIs and 3 T20Is, starting with the 1st Test match on January 5, 2018. Their Test wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha believes that the No. 1 Test side is ready to fight its way through the battle in South Africa.

Saha is currently down with fever which also forced him to miss the semi-final encounter of the Ranji Trophy 2017-18 between Bengal and Delhi. He spoke about the different tests which the team will face when they meet the Proteas in their own backyard next year. The keeper mentioned the fact that the boys haven’t had a lot of time in hand to talk about the important series after the conclusion of Test series against Sri Lanka, which India won 1-0.

“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,” said Saha in a conversation with Hindustan Times during the semi-final game of the Ranji Trophy.

The bounce would be very different there

Saha revealed that the conditions would be pretty different and challenging in South Africa. The surface will have a lot of bounce which assists the fast bowlers. He also talked about the similar track at the 1st Test against Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens, where there were seamer-friendly conditions and that helped especially the Indian team get some idea before the overseas tour.

“The pitch or conditions in Pune won’t be similar to South African pitches so there is no point thinking too much about it. 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,” he added.

A two-day warm-up game could have been more suitable

Recently, the BCCI announced that team India would not play any warm-up game before the start of the 1st Test on January 5, 2018, against the Proteas, rather they will conduct some personal training camps for the extensive preparations. But the wicketkeeper feels that a two-day warm-up game would have been a suitable groundwork before the Test series. Still, the team would get all the necessary arrangements and measures before they got on to the field for the real test.