JOHANNESBURG – Captain Virat Kohli revealed there has been some hardtalking in the India camp ahead of the third and final Test against SouthAfrica, starting at the Wanderers Stadium on Wednesday.
He said his call after defeat in the second Test at Centurion to “be hardon ourselves” had been followed through.
“Everyone has been spoken to individually as to what went wrong, whathappened and why it happened,” Kohli said.
“The guys have taken it well. Any time that you step on to the field, it isan opportunity to correct your mistakes and that is how you progress at theinternational level.”
He said batting coach Sanjay Bangar had worked with all the batsmen with aview to salvaging something from a series in which India are facing thepossibility of a 3-0 defeat.
“I am sure everyone is looking forward to rectifying those mistakes and, ifthey are in the same positions (again), to consolidate those positions,”said Kohli.
The Indian captain added: “We have looked at the positives from the firsttwo games as well. It is not many times on overseas tours that we havetaken 40 wickets in two Tests.
“If the bowlers can continue doing their job, whichever team bats bettercan win the Test match. It’s a chance for everyone to step up and turnthings around.”
Both captains said there was a possibility they could go into the matchwith all-seam attacks on a green, well-grassed pitch.——————————
‘Amazing stat’——————————
Remarkably, at a Wanderers ground which usually favours fast bowlers, SouthAfrica have yet to beat India in four Test matches.
South African captain Faf du Plessis admitted that was “an amazing stat”.
He acknowledged that teams get a boost from playing where they or theirpredecessors have enjoyed success.
“You get some grounds where you get a bit of confidence with the way thatyou play and you run with it,” he said.
“I can think of a place like Perth in Australia, where we have never lost,and we get to the ground and we feel, ‘we are confident here, we canperform here’.”
But he said the South Africans were determined to complete a 3-0 seriessweep.
“What you can do is keep them under pressure. They are obviously underpressure now, being 2-0 down in the series.
“A good start with the bat or with the ball is when you can put a teamdown. If you can be really solid, you would think their fighting spiritwill slowly go away.”
Du Plessis said a key factor, as in the first two Tests, would be battingpartnerships.
“I think the difference between us and India is that more batters havecontributed to partnerships than them. For me, it’s making sure we keep thepressure on their batsmen.
“It’s been a pretty quiet series for most of them. If we keep doing that wewill change that (Wanderers) stat.”
Du Plessis admitted that the Indian Premier League auction this weekendcould be a distraction.
“The IPL plays a big part in all of our lives. For the management andmyself it’s important to keep the focus and the energy driving towards theTest match.
“At the end of the day’s play, if you want to talk about the auction for abit, you can do it. But the next day when it’s Test match time again wemust be switched on and focused.” – AFP