On Wednesday, South Africa speedster Kagiso Rabada said his team would bank on their past experience of playing in the sub-continent when they face India in the upcoming T20 and Test series.
The Proteas will be playing three T20s as well as three Tests against the hosts.
“You need to figure out what you need to do to give the team a better chance to win, that is what I try to focus on. When you have played there before, you will have an idea of what to do in certain tough situations,” the young quickie said during a training camp in South Africa.
The last time the Proteas toured India, they had won the T20 and ODI series but suffered a massive 3-0 defeat in Tests. Rabada blamed the surfaces prepared for the Test series, calling them ‘terrible.’
“The previous tour we were successful because we won the T20 and ODI series but the Test series was a bit of a shambles because those wickets were just terrible.”
“If I could give an example the first Test match it was 200 v 200 in first innings. If we batted first it was going to be a different ball game because we ended up having to chase the game. We lost 3-0 and we were truly hammered.”
When asked whether they had a specific strategy to tackle spin bowling, this is what the fast bowler had to say –
“On our recent tour to Sri Lanka, it was tricky conditions. There is a whole lot of talk about how to approach spin but we will see how it goes.”
“What helps is that there are guys who have played there in the past and I guess what you can do is to use what worked and what did not work during the Sri Lanka tour to have a base.”
“When you go there for the first time, it’s weird and you don’t know what to do. If you look at how Faf (Du Plessis) batted in Sri Lanka, he got good starts which showed that he had played there and knew the conditions.”
