Vernon Philander unconvinced about India's ability to perform better overseas
Vernon Philander doesn't think that the high-flying Indian team will be lethal on South African conditions and is willing to wait for the first Test before reaching a conclusion. The fast bowler also added that apart from the tracks, the result will also largely depend on the windy conditions.
India have been preparing for the South African tour for almost over a month now. The congested scheduling even forced the Men in Blue to prepare South African pitches during the series against Sri Lanka, so that they don't repeat their history in the rainbow nation. The Indian team even cancelled their warm-up matches and decided to do practice sessions instead ahead of the series.
Under Kohli’s leadership, the side is on the verge of creating history as they are on a magnificent winning streak of nine Test series on a trot. However, South Africa's Vernon Philander didn’t seem to be intimidated by that as he believes that most of India's success has come in familiar conditions and expects them to struggle like a fish out of water.
"They have played most of their games at home, so it'll be interesting to see how they go in South Africa. It's a totally different ball game. We're going to have to wait and see once they pass the first Test match," Philander said as quoted by Cricinfo.
In 2015, South Africa had visited India for four Tests with India preparing turning tracks for the series. The South African side failed to register a win in a single Test in that tour and now with India visiting them, have a genuine chance of taking revenge for that. However, Philander has claimed that though the Newlands pitch would be green, it wouldn't be that dangerous for the opponents.
"No, I wouldn't say it's greener [than other Newlands pitches]. I have played all my life here. I've seen a lot of similar wickets and they haven't done much. Obviously, there's a little bit of grass there, but I don't think it's going to scare anyone," Philander said.
The South African pacer also brushed aside any comparisons to the expected grassy and quick wicket of 2011 that saw Australia getting bowled out for 47 runs in the first innings.
"I think that wicket was a little bit different to what this was," Philander said.
"That one looked a lot flatter than this one. But sometimes you get to Newlands, and it depends on the type of wind that blows here as well. You might get days there is grass, but it's absolutely flat. You get some days, the north-western blows, and the ball goes around when there's not much grass on there."
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