With Mohammed Shami not in the side, one among Prasidh Krishna or Mukesh Kumar will replace the veteran pacer in the first Test against South Africa.
Centurion: South Africa are wary of the Indian pace attack irrespective of the fact the visitors won’t get the services of Mohammed Shami, opined home captain Temba Bavuma ahead of the first Test that begins on Tuesday at SuperSport Park in Centurion. Shami, who finished as the highest wicket-taker in ODI World Cup, has sustained a heel injury and is ruled out of the two-match Test series against the Proteas.
One among the rookie Prasidh Krishna or old Mukesh Kumar is expected to replace Shami in the playing eleven. However, there is a chance that rain could play spoilsport in the Test match with little play possible expectedly in the first two days.
“As cricketers you want to come up against the best and Mohammed Shami is one of the best going around and most of us would be looking forward to coming up against him. But India being India, and with the depth that they have, you have to trust that whoever comes in will also put you under pressure,” Bavuma said during the pre-match press conference.
Being the home side, it is certain that South Africa will understand the conditions better than anyone. But Bavuma felt even without Shami, the Indian bowling attack is still stronger. “Being home conditions, we understand the advantage our side has, you will expect us to adapt a lot better and Indian bowling attack is quite a strong one.
“Obviously, Shami is not there but it’s still a strong one. The fact that they have been able to achieve so much success in Tests over the past 5-10 years period is because of that bowling attack,” he lavished praise.
India have never won a Test series in South Africa and the hosts are keen to keep that record intact. Bavuma understood that playing India comes with its own set of challenges. “We understand playing (against) India comes with challenges as there are more eyeballs involved.”
South Africa recently played an attractive brand of ODI cricket during the World Cup. But according to Bavuma, with youngsters in the side, SA are still figuring out their signature brand of cricket. But one thing is non-negotiable for the skipper – it has to be a winning brand of cricket.
“In terms of brand, there has definitely been talk about it, not just now but also during the West Indies series. We are still trying to see how it looks like. Looking at the Test team, it’s still in a discovery phase and still evolving as you see a lot more new faces, we are still trying to see what the final product will look like,” he said.
He did not want to put pressure on his team to play any particular brand of cricket. “I don’t think there is any extra pressure on players to get a lot more eyes on Test cricket and the objective will be to play a winning brand of cricket. That’s what we will try to do.”