Sports News
India pacers can challenge South Africa batting, says Murali Vijay
India are set to take on South Africa in an away fixture scheduled to begin from January 5 in Cape Town.
India are set to take on South Africa in an away fixture scheduled to begin from January 5 in Cape Town. The Virat Kohli-led side has been a dominant force at home and opener Mural Vijay feels that this tour of South Africa will come as a learning experience for him and the team.
“My battle is with the ball and not with the names. It’s going to be a great experience for me personally and for the team as well,” the 33-year-old said of the tour. “I know how it feels to perform abroad, ” Vijay told while talking to The Times of India.
Despite showing consistency at home in the longer format, questions have been raised on India’s overseas performances and whether they would be able to rubbish-off the previous records. “Every time we go abroad, we want to do well,” he said. “I have played with a lot of legends in the past. Everybody prepared well, but it just didn’t happen.”
Talking about the preparations, Vijay revealed that the team is up for challenges and would have a particular strategy for every player. Moreover, he suggested that the conditions in South Africa would be testing and the side is ready for this as well. “I cannot tell how Virat is going to go about with team strategy. But I am quite sure there will be plans for everybody and Virat is up for it. It’s going to be good fun. There is going to be bounce and the conditions are going to be testing.”
“Some people need 1000 balls to get set, some people don’t even need to bat in the nets but are ready,” he said. “It’s very difficult to explain the term preparation. It depends on the individuals on how they are going to go about tackling the challenges,” Vijay added.
Mentioning about the challenges against the pace attack, the right-hand batsman insisted that the Indian quick bowlers also bear the ability of troubling the opposition with their pace. “When their pace attack can challenge us, our pacers too can challenge them. It’s going to be up to them on how they prepare the pitches because we are prepared with our bowling unit. We have a lot of advantage as most of them have played abroad now,” he added.
