India coach Rahul Dravid, though,  said Rahane looks in good space. “The conversations with Ajinkya have been very positive. He has trained really well this week and practised really well. The conversations are no different from with most of the players. He seems to be in a really good space,” Dravid said during a virtual press conference ahead of the Boxing Day Test. Dravid, who led India to a 123-run win at Johannesburg in 2006, stressed on the importance of an all-round contribution to win a maiden Test series in South Africa. 

“Winning in these sort of conditions will be down to team performance. We will need contributions from everyone and that’s the conversations we have had. It is not just about [Cheteshwar] Pujara, Rahane or [Virat] Kohli,” Dravid remarked. The Indian bowling has been a chief reason for consecutive Test series wins in Australia (2017-18 and 2019-20). India also lead 2-1 in the Test series in England with the final Test to be played next year. 

Poll

Who will win the Punjab Elections?

BJP 32.86%

AAP 41.43%

INC 25.71%

Submit

View All In Poll

Dravid, however, urged the batting department to provide adequate support to the bowlers. “Our attack is more experienced, but they [SA] have some quality bowlers in their ranks. We are certainly not going to take them lightly. If our bowlers have to take 20 wickets, our batsmen also need to score good runs,” he said.
Kohli has a bowling unit which includes pacers Ishant Sharma (311 wickets), Mohammed Shami (195), Umesh Yadav (156), Jasprit Bumrah (101), Mohammed Siraj (33), Shardul Thakur (14) and off-spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (427) and Jayant Yadav (16). 

Over to Centurion.