Former Indian wicketkeeper Saba Karim backed Virat Kohli & co. to win their first-ever series in the rainbow nation. Notable that India never won a Test series in their previous 7 outings in South Africa. The former selector also believes that this team has the strong bench strength to overcome all kinds of injury woes.
In an interview with Sports Tiger, Saba Karim called it a golden opportunity for India. South Africa is the only country where India hadn’t won a Test series yet though they manage to draw the series once in 2010-11 under the captain MS Dhoni. In the first tour in 1992-93, India lost the 4-match series by 0-1.
For the first test win in the protea nation, India had to wait for 14 long years as they beat the hosts by 123 runs at Johannesburg under the leadership of Rahul Dravid.
India never won a Test series in South Africa before
However, Saba Karim opined that this Indian team is much stronger as compared to previous teams. The former wicketkeeper also predicted the scoreline heavily in favour of India.
He also gave the example of Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2020-21 when India managed to win the series despite losing their core bowling attack due to injuries.
“It is immensely strong (bench strength) and proof of that was shown by them in Australia. We won the fourth Test without I think five or six of our regular players. That shows the kind of strength that India have got in our reserves. And I expect the same this time around and it is our golden opportunity for us as well have an experienced set-up. Plus we have some potentially exciting youngsters who are coming through to the team. It will be an ideal combination for us to do well in South Africa,” he added further.
After reaching South Africa, India started their first training session on Saturday. The first test of the 3-match series will start from December 26 at Centurion.
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