The Indian team may have wrapped up their 9th straight Test series win against Sri Lanka but all the interest has already shifted to the upcoming tour of South Africa next month.
While playing at home, Virat Kohli and his boys have ticked all the boxes and beaten sides fair and square. In the past three years or so teams India has played mostly at home, and apart from Sri Lanka, formidable sides like South Africa, New Zealand, England and Australia have visited India and been beaten.
During this time, India has visited West Indies and Sri Lanka, and managed to get past them easily as well. Those overseas wins won’t be considered much, keeping in mind that both the sides are lowly ranked, and no match to the capacity of the current Indian team.
And that’s why the first real challenge of this Indian side would start in the backdrop of picturesque table top mountains of Cape Town.
Such is the anticipation of the upcoming series that Virat openly admitted that they might be playing against Sri Lanka, but their focus is already on South Africa.
Keeping in mind that India won’t have much time to get used to the conditions in South Africa, they tried to stimulate it here itself. The 17-member squad for the tour is announced, and the most exciting feature of this side is the potential of the fast bowling department. The Indian fast bowling attack has never looked so complete and fierce.
This group of Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, with the addition of Jasprit Bumrah, can challenge the most formidable batting unit in any given condition.
Bumrah's inclusion is a well-deserved recognition of his consistent performance in coloured clothing, and now it is time to translate it in whites as well.
This attack can match pace with pace, swing the ball, and could be cunning and nasty. So hosts would be a little apprehensive while rolling out fast and bouncy pitches to them. The so-called ‘home advantage’ can backfire.
On the other hand, most of the batsmen in this side have gone through the cycle of ups and downs, and now have the experience to deal with what lies ahead of them. The likes of Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay KL Rahul, and Rohit Sharma have tasted their share of failures abroad and would like to mend that record.
All of them are good players of the short ball and eager to play on back-foot, an essential proficiency required to combat the challenge of bouncy wickets.
And then they have the luxury of all-rounder Hardik Pandya, who can bowl with pace and bat with aggression to swing the match in India’s favour. This value addition can provide a much-needed balance to the eleven, which some of the previous Indian sides have missed while travelling.
Even spinners like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will have plenty to prove in conditions which won’t favour their art. This 'Test' of Test cricket awaits them, and they would be equally eager to overcome it.
The choice of Parthiv Patel as the second wicketkeeper has created a bit of debate. But one can see reasons behind the inclusion of Parthiv. In 2016, in the absence of Wriddhman Saha, Parthiv ticked all the boxes and performed exceedingly well.
Forget the ability, a player like Parthiv brings with him courage and the will to fight against all odds. Virat will always have a place for characters like him who would do anything and everything for the side.
Foreign tours are often a ‘make or break’ for leaders, and Virat couldn’t have asked for better batting form and frame of mind to start one of the most challenging periods of his captaincy. The next 12 months will define the legacy of Virat Kohli, the captain. And for that Kohli, the captain, will rely a lot on Kohli, the batsman.
Looking at the current Indian team and their ability, one has every reason to believe that this Indian side can overcome the grind of the overseas tour. India, under Sourav Ganguly, turned the trend and started winning Test matches abroad, but this Indian team can better their record and convert Test match wins into Test series victories.
Knowing Kohli and the spirit of his team, they won't like to be known as 'Lions at home' only. Their time to write their history and prove their mettle is here.
(Nishant Arora is an award-winning cricket journalist, and most recently, the media manager of the Indian Cricket Team. He also co-authored the best-selling book on Yuvraj Singh’s battle with cancer.)
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