South African Test skipper Dean Elgar on Friday (December 24) said that Team India has had a lot of success as a bowling unit and their main strength lies in their bowling.
Team India is all set to clash with South Africa in three Tests and three ODIs. The tour will kick start with the Boxing Day Test from December 26 at SuperSport Park, Centurion followed by the second Test at Johannesburg from January 3 to 7.
The final Test will take place in Cape Town from January 11 to 15. While the three-ODI series will be played from 19th January to 23rd January.
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Team India is putting hard yards in the nets and is leaving no stone unturned to prepare themselves for the first Test match against the Proteas. The three-match Test series will hold extreme importance for the Virat Kohli-led side as South Africa is the only country where India has never won a Test series.
Indian bowlers of late have been in some terrific form. The pace battery needs to perform well if Team India is looking to script history as they are one of the main reasons behind the Virat Kohli-led side’s success in overseas conditions.
Addressing a press-conference ahead of the first Test against India, South Africa skipper Dean Elgar admitted that bowling is the main strength of the Virat Kohli-led side as they’ve had lots of success of late.
"Their strength at the moment lies in their bowling. We are extremely aware of that as well. They've had a lot of successes as a bowling unit. They've got a lot of older spearhead bowlers that lead the attack and have got a good backup set of bowlers as well," Dean Elgar said.
Elgar pointed out that being in South Africa, Indian pacers will exploit the conditions well as they will be aware that wickets in his country offers more pace and bounce than anywhere else.
“And being in South Africa, I'm pretty sure their bowling attack will exploit the conditions reasonably well. Just knowing that we have our seamers and we've got a little bit of pace and bounce and the wickets maybe do a little bit more in South Africa than it does anywhere else around the world," he said.
Elgar quipped even though Team India is No.1 ranked Test side in the world but playing at home gives his side an upper hand.
"I think it's pretty even-stevens. Us playing at home, obviously, gives us a little bit of an upper hand. They are ranked No. 1 in the world; we can't look at that. That's something they have been for quite some time, in my opinion - just my being a cricket watcher and a cricket fan," he said.
Dean Elgar accepted India as the "best side in the world", but stressed that even still playing at home gives his team the "upper hand".
"You can't give them the credit for what they have done over the last while. So, I am not going to sit here and say they are not the best side in the world because there's a ranking system for a reason. But the mere fact that we're playing in our backyard gives us still the upper hand going into the series," he concluded.
(ANI inputs)
