The Indian team under skipper Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri are in no mood of giving it away easily in South Africa this time. And when an otherwise introvert Wriddhiman Saha also tells you that pace and bounce don’t bother this Indian team, you know this Indian team means business.
Speaking to CricketNext ahead grueling tour of South Africa, Saha said, “Bouncers? Movement? Are these as big a factor as you make them be? Nobody is questioning the South African bowling line-up and we as a team have the utmost respect for them. But do you forget that we also have pacers in the team? Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav know how to rattle batsmen with pace and bounce. Then you have Bhuvneshwar Kumar who can get the ball to seam at a good pace. And I think Ishant Sharma has played enough cricket and knows what exactly is expected of him.”
He further elaborated, “The point is not pace and bounce. The point is if we can pick 20 wickets and win the Test and I think we have the players to do that. When we are done with the pace battery upfront, we have a quality seamer in Hardik Pandya and two supremely experienced spinners in R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. This team has the arsenal to win Test matches.”
The confidence in Saha’s tone is clearly a result of spending quality time with the likes of Kohli and Shastri as he said, “Today, I can say that I know where I stand as a player and my role in this team is very clear. How often do you come across captains and coaches who are as vocal as these two? They have ensured that all of us know what is expected of us and there is no sense of doubt. Kohli often comes and tells me that I should not worry about whether I can score a hundred or a fifty. He says that every time I go out in the middle, I should enjoy myself.”
Ahead of the tour, Shastri had said that the next 18 months will decide the legacy of this team and the young gloveman feels that it is quick to add that India’s success on home soil was also a result of hard work and discipline, he said, “Shastri bhai was absolutely right because we are playing the top teams and that too on foreign soil. If this team can beat the likes of South Africa, England, and Australia, you can very well understand that we will not only gain immensely in confidence but also be true world beaters. But then, something that irritates me is this obsession with pulling down India after every series win on home soil by saying that we win on tracks that were tailor-made for the Indian spinners.”
Saha concluded by expressing that every team prepares wickets which suits their team and there is nothing wrong with it, he said, “Don’t all teams nowadays prepare wickets that help their own team? Would you get a spinning track ever in South Africa, England, Australia or New Zealand? They are not criticised when they make wickets that help their bowlers. Then why this scrutiny when we win at home? Then again, these things do not bother us as a team because we are here to win and on any given surface. You dish it out and we have the answers.”
