Indian Test captain Virat Kohli said that his team is determined to win their first-ever Test series in South Africa, as Team India is set to leave for the tour to play a three-match Test series and three ODIs from December 26.
Kohli said that his brigade is "very motivated" to make history in the upcoming Test series, adding that his team will be taking a lot of confidence and motivation from their 63-run victory in the final Test at the Wanderers in the 2017-18 tour.
India’s 2017-18 tour of South Africa was Kohli's first tour as India's full-time captain in all formats of the game when they lost the series 2-1 to the Proteas side, having won only the final Test.
Kohli told reporters at the press conference: “We can take a lot of motivation from that. We probably won in the toughest conditions on that tour. That should give us a lot of confidence. If we start off well, then we can definitely stand up to any challenge that comes our way and takes a lot of heart from it.”
He added, “South Africa is one place where we have not won a series yet so we are very motivated to do that. The mindset is always to go out there and win a series in any country that we play. We don't think of just winning a Test match here and there anymore and we will do our absolute best to make sure we keep contributing towards that cause. We will take a lot of motivation and belief from that victory.”
However, since losing the Test series to South Africa in 2017-18, India has recorded back-to-back Test series wins in Australia and is currently leading 2-1 in a five-Test series in England with the last match set to be played next year.
The Indian skipper further pointed out, “South Africa was the start for us as a team to start believing that we can win series overseas. We built it up nicely in England (in 2018) and then Australia was a nice accumulation of all that effort. South Africa presents a different kind of challenge, the wickets have a lot of pace and bounce. You need to be at your absolute best to be able to perform there and get runs. It is something we have tried to do as a team but probably left ourselves a bit too much to at certain times where sessions have gone very bad if they went bad it.”
Kohli signed off by saying, “This is something we have controlled in the recent past with more experience and guys understanding how to play in these conditions against the quick bowlers and how to transition their innings through the day so they can bat long. I think we are very well placed in terms of experience and belief that we can do something special as a team... overcome probably the toughest conditions and win a series there.”
(With India Today Inputs)
