Playing in Cape Town first will help India: Ajay Jadeja ›

Over time, India have improved in leaps and bounds while South Africa have remained somewhat static. AJAY JADEJA, On teams’ progress

NEWDELHI: India have never won a Test at Newlands. Of the four matches in Cape Town, they were beaten comprehensively on two occasions and the other instances turned out to be stalemates. However, former India cricketer Ajay Jadeja believes playing the first Test in Cape Town could be a blessing for Virat Kohli & Co.

“It is a good thing that they are playing their first game in Cape Town. The conditions will be a bit familiar for the Indian team and it will help them in acclimatising quickly. Most of the times, the series is already over by the time we play at Newlands. But, in this series, they can capitalise on the conditions and a good start will be brilliant for their confidence,” Jadeja told Hindustan Times in an exclusive interview.

Before the start of the series, most experts predicted that the hosts will be preparing a bouncy pitch in Cape Town. But, the excessive sunlight in the last few days and the lack of water has dried up the pitch sooner than planned and on Friday, the change in conditions may end up helping the visitors.

However, the Indian cricket team will have to be wary of local boy Vernon Philander who single-handedly demolised Australia at the same venue in 2011. The Proteas pacer produced a brilliant spell of bowling where he took 5/15 to dismiss Australia for a miserly total of 47.

Ajay Jadeja, who made his debut for India during their firstever tour of South Africa in 1992, also believes that South Africa have failed to improve over time and that is one of the biggest reasons why India have a great chance of winning their first ever Test series in South Africa this time.

“In the 1990s, we were not aware of South Africa’s weaknesses and that gave them the advantage. But, over time, India have improved in leaps and bounds while South Africa have remained somewhat static. To be honest, the 1992 team was way better than the side that will play in this series.”

“The team is enjoying a good run of form and in Virat (Kohli), we have an aggressive leader. This will not be an easy series, but they need to believe in themselves and I believe that they have a good chance of producing a positive result,” Jadeja said.