Forgetting the disappointment of the World Cup, Team India has set out wholeheartedly to conquer Mission South Africa. I realized this on the very first day when the entire team met with coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma in Pretoria. The mood and atmosphere of the team was exactly the same which you all saw during the World Cup. It is not easy to forget such a big pain so easily.
I asked the same question to Dravid that how difficult is the challenge of forgetting the World Cup disappointment so quickly and conquering another final frontier. The coach's answer was that it is not easy but as a cricketer it becomes part of your nature that you forget the past failures as soon as possible and focus on the challenge ahead.
As a batsman, you forget the previous innings, as a player, you forget the previous series because if you keep thinking about failure for a long time, it can affect your present. The good thing is that the captain of this team is the cool personality Rohit Sharma, who along with young players and experienced players has created such an atmosphere in the dressing room where there is no place for tension.
But both Rohit and Dravid know that if their team does not win the series in South Africa for the first time in 32 years, then the pressure on them will increase a lot. Perhaps this may affect his tenure as well.
Within a span of about two years, the Dravid-Rohit duo once reached the semi-finals of the T-20 World Cup, came very close to winning the One-Day World Cup and also reached the finals of the World Test Championship.
Perhaps that is why Rohit Sharma, in response to my question in the press conference, said that we will have to win something because we have worked so hard. But, the history of Team India in South Africa shows that victory is not achieved only by hard work. On not one or two occasions, Team India took a 1-0 lead in this country but they could not maintain it. Only Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team returned after tying the series despite losing the first Test in 2010-11.
Rohit and Rahul will realize that a 1-1 draw here will be seen as a failure.
Team India had arrived about 10 days in advance to prepare for the very important Test series against South Africa, because they realized that due to rain, they might not get a chance to prepare adequately just before the Test. On Sunday, Team India had a vigorous practice of about three hours and on Monday there was an optional practice session which was ultimately washed out due to rain.
Rohit Sharma and all his teammates may not have been too bothered by the cancellation of Monday's net-practice session, but one player who would definitely have been disappointed would be Virat Kohli. Kohli joined Team India on Sunday after a break of about five days. Must have wanted more batting practice just a day before an important test.
But, if there is one batsman who neither has any problem nor any fear of South African conditions, then it is Kohli, because he is the only player in Indian history whose Test average on African soil is more than 51. Coincidentally, the average of the two biggest legends of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, also falls by about 10 percent from their career average in South Africa.
However, it is not only about Tendulkar and Dravid, but about every batsman in the world, even the batsmen of the host team themselves, for whom the pitches of Africa prove to be the toughest test for batting.
Leave aside players with an average of 50, it will be very difficult to find batsmen with an average of 40 in the current African team. Perhaps this is the reason why the host team captain Bavuma is afraid of the Indian fast bowling attack. He has clearly said that his team would have benefited from fast and bouncy pitches, but India also has such bowlers who can turn the tables.
If Bavuma and his team cannot demand any kind of preferred pitch, then the second problem for India is that what kind of playing eleven they should select keeping in mind the pitch of Centurion.
The selection of Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja is absolutely certain. Same thing is with the selection of Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Siraj. That is, there is no problem in the selection of 9 out of 11, but the captain and the coach are facing problems for the remaining two places.
Should the veteran Ravichandran Ashwin be included as an all-rounder at number eight or Shardul Thakur, who was the most successful after Mohammed Shami only as a bowler on the last Africa tour.
As the third seamer, Mukesh Kumar, who was a part of the last Test series held on Caribbean soil, should be given a chance or Prasidh Krishna should be given a chance to play the first Test.
These are not easy questions. But watching the net practice on Sunday, it seems that perhaps Mukesh Kumar should be given preference. Overall, Team India has to win two test matches within the next 13 days. There will be rain in Centurion for the first two days but Team India's wish is that their plans of creating history should not be spoiled this time under any circumstances.
Also Read: Players who can help India win its first test series in Africa
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