India won the last Test series at home comfortably against the West Indies.
After the white-ball series against Australia Down Under, India are all set to lock horns against South Africa for a two-match Test series, the first of which will commence in Kolkata on November 14. Having said that, the series is expected to be an uphill task as Shubman Gill & Co. will face the World Test Championship (WTC) winners for the first time since they clinched the title.
Skipper Shubman Gill is well aware of the threat that the South Africans can pose, but trusts his team to bounce back from difficult situations. Ahead of the commencement of the first Test, Gill attended the press conference in which he spoke of multiple aspects about the game, as well as his shift in mindset and technique while juggling between formats.
One of the most prominent points Gill spoke about, was the Indian spinners having a slight advantage over the Protean counterparts. The likes of Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav have mastered the art of varying their pace in the subcontinent, which Gill thinks will add to India’s advantage.
“The balls that are not turning become more dangerous, because they are coming at a faster pace as compared to the ones which grip and turn. That is definitely an advantage for the team whose spinners are bowling faster”, said Shubman Gill about India’s spinners.
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The South Africans are coming on the back of Test series against Pakistan and Bangladesh. In both those countries, the nature of spin-bowling which they faced was a bit different as compared to what they will face in India. Both Pakistan and Bangladesh have spinners who bowl slower through the air, and that gives time to the batters to react.
However, in India, the nature of spin-bowling can differ. Shubman Gill expressed that he is extremely aware of how well the Protea batters have played spin in the last few months. The batters developed the sweep shot wonderfully well to counter the spin in the subcontinental conditions. To add to that, their decision-making with respect to playing deliveries on the front or back foot improved as well.
The likes of Jadeja would be the best bowler to test the abilities of the Protean batters against spin-bowling. Jadeja, coupled with someone like Washington Sundar naturally bowl faster through the air, hurrying the batter a lot more. As a result, the decision-making has got to be extremely quick for the batter in order to survive.
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