‘It is India’s best chance to win a Test series in SA’
NEW DELHI: India begin their campaign in South Africa with the Boxing Day Test at Centurion’s SuperSport Park on Sunday. The three-Test rubber will be India’s eighth in South Africa and skipper Virat Kohli, who led the side to a close 1-2 loss in the Rainbow Nation three years ago, would be looking for India’s maiden series win there.
Former India fast bowler Zaheer Khan, who played eight Tests across four tours for 30 wickets in South Africa, feels India have their best chance to win a series there. In an interview, Khan, 43, discusses the challenges of bowling in South Africa, assesses the Indian pace attack and recalls his experience of playing in that country. Excerpts:
How do you assess India’s fast-bowling attack?
They are certainly good enough to take 20 wickets in each Test. They have been performing consistently all over the world. It’s a good, balanced attack. The best part is that we have enough variety within the fast bowling pack. We have a tall bowler like Ishant Sharma to extract extra bounce from awkward lengths and someone like Mohammed Shami with his prominent seam position who can move the ball both ways off the deck.
Then we’ve Jasprit Bumrah, who is truly world class and has created problems for batters with pace and guile. We also have an excellent second battery in Shardul Thakur, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Siraj. On the whole, we have a wellrounded attack and there is no reason to think they won’t get the desired success. Perhaps the only bowler missing is a leftarm quick, but I guess you can’t do much about it.
A left-armer does give you the advantage of a different angle, but unfortunately for India, the wait continues.
You were on the 2013-14 tour, Shami’s first there. You would have watched and mentored him. How do you assess his growth?
Yeah, watching his success gives me a great high. His journey has been fantastic; in fact, all Indian pacers have developed into fine bowlers.
Shami has got a terrific record and is one of the leaders of the pack. The best part about him is that he provides crucial breakthroughs at crucial times. He is a game-changing bowler. I have always judged myself as well as other bowlers on the ability to prise out 2-3 important wickets in a spell that can potentially change the game. Shami has that ability. Not surprisingly, he is an important part of our world-class pace attack.
What are your views on South African pitches? What challenges do fast bowlers face there?
When you are playing in Johannesburg, you have the challenge of adjusting to the altitude (1,753 m). That’s one challenge every bowler has to face. The high altitude tests your fitness. Apart from that, fast bowlers really enjoy bowling in SA because there is always something in their pitches for them right through the Test. I am sure our bowlers will relish the challenge.
What are your memories of playing in South Africa?
SA has always been a tough challenge, and I am fortunate to have reprsented India against such a competitive team. Bowling to the likes of Graeme Smith, Jaques Kallis and AB de Villiers was never easy, more so in their backyard. It was always a good contest.
As a team, we have some good memories of Johannesburg and Durban. All members of the Indian teams I have been part of look back at our Test wins in South Africa with a lot of fondness and pride.
I have always enjoyed touring South Africa. Some of the most iconic moments of my career have come there—the 2003 World Cup, even though we lost the final, will always be special, Sachin’s 50th and 51st Test hundreds came there, as did the 2007 T20 World Cup win. So, I am hoping the Rainbow Nation will bring some luck to our boys in this series.
Your prediction for this series.
I think it will be a good, close series. This is most definitely our best chance to win a Test series there. South Africa are without the likes of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers, and our boys must capitalise. Also, if you look at the form of our team and the overall quality of cricket we play, we won’t get a better opportunity to win our maiden series there.