India head coach Rahul Dravid admitted that a total team contribution and not just individual brilliance will help Team India script their maiden Test series win in South Africa.
One of the most concerning factor for India in the build-up to the South Africa Test series has been their middle-order woes. Despite a star-studded line-up featuring captain Virat Kohli, and two other senior batters – Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane – the trio have faltered over the last few years. But Dravid brushed aside the concern and opined that the team should perform together if they truly want to beat South Africa in South Africa.
“One of the things that we have talked to the group about is that these kinds of series are won by good team performances. Everyone needs to play their part. You can’t just rely on Virat Kohli or a Pujara or one of the guys to do the job. If we want to be successful here, we are going to need contributions from everyone – our top seven, eight,” said Dravid on the eve of the Centurion opener.
The former Indian captain further said that run contributions from lower order will also be equally important in this series considering the challenging South African conditions.
“Even the lower-order, the value of their contributions in these games can be slightly low-scoring than say, in other parts of the world. Every contribution is going to be important and Pujji is an important part of that line-up as is anyone else. It’s very rare in a series like this that one person is going to score in every single game and dominate a series.”
