The Virat Kohli-led Indian cricket team have landed in South Africa and reached Cape Town late on Thursday night. The Indian team was seen entering the hotel as they gear up for their 56-day long tour of South Africa. The Indian team will play three Tests, six One-Day Internationals (ODI) and three Twenty20 Internationals.
There is much excitement among cricket fans of both, India and South Africa about the upcoming tussle between the two teams. As India is gearing up to advance for the tour of South Africa, the excitement is just growing each day.
Team India had a wonderful journey in the year 2017. They were unbeaten throughout the year and won all the series played against different teams. The last series was against Sri Lanka. As there was no time to practice for South Africa series, the Indian team thought of preparing for bouncy and green pitches which helps them in South Africa.
Accordingly, the team India management prepared for bouncy and green pitches for the Sri Lanka limited-overs series. But Virat’s counterpart AB de Villiers believes that the views of preparing on green pitches are unrealistic. He feels that greenish pitches in India aren’t going to make any difference in their preparations for the tour.
But Kohli has often spoken about putting themselves in uncomfortable situations and is not afraid to take on the best in the world. However, he also warned India that they would be facing the bowlers of high quality on seaming and bouncy pitches in South Africa.
AB de Villiers felt that Kohli’s views of touring the country a month before for the preparation as unrealistic. “Being in a country for a month before playing a series is ideal but it’s unrealistic, especially with our current schedules. If you’re prepared to do that (come earlier), you won’t be at home for many days of the year,” ABD said.
“Virat is a disciplined and adaptable guy. If he believes that’s the best way for India to prepare for tours, they must investigate the possibility. It might help them but India has got to remember that they won’t face the same bowlers. They’ll face guys that come from here and know in which areas to bowl. It’s easy to overthink these situations. In the end, it’s just about getting onto the field and achieving results,” ABD added.
Now we are keen to see if Virat responds to this little dig by his close friend as the war of words has started to heat up. We are all excited for this contest and we are going to love every bit of it for sure.