South Africa spinner Keshav Maharaj remarked that their upcoming India tour is one of the "toughest" but added that there is a real desire within the camp to defeat the opposition at their home turf. Notably, the Proteas haven't won a Test match in India for 15 years now and will be aiming to finally end the drought in the two upcoming matches.
The reigning World Test Championship (WTC) champions began the new cycle on an average not and drew their two-match series against Pakistan by 1-1. Maharaj stated that there is a hunger within their team to defeat India and they really want to emerge victorious in the series.
“There’s a real hunger and desire within the camp to beat India in India. It’s probably one of the toughest tours, if not the toughest in the Proteas calendar, for the various generations that have come (here)," Maharaj said in an online interaction.
“We feel like it’s one of our biggest tests. And it will be a wonderful opportunity to grade ourselves, to see how far we’ve come slowly. We have started to conquer other parts of the subcontinent. And I feel like this is one assignment that we really, really want to take," he added.
Maharaj's take on Indian pitches
Maharaj also feels that the curators in India will not be making spin-friendly pitches, unlike in Pakistan where the team recently played. He pointed out that the wickets in India only start deteriorating by day four or five.
“I don’t think it will be as spin-friendly as we experienced in Pakistan. I think it will be good wickets that will deteriorate as the game goes on. So, probably, more of your traditional Test wickets from what we see," Maharaj stated.
“I think if you watched a bit of the West Indies series, it was good wickets that went almost to day four and five. So, I do believe that the sort of narrative is changing in terms of getting wickets," he added.
South Africa's bowling combination
Meanwhile, South Africa have decided to go for a bowling combination comprising of three spinners and four pacers. The spinners include Maharaj, Simon Harmer and Senuran Muthuswamy while the seam options are Corbin Bosch, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder and Kagiso Rabada.
South Africa's squad for India Tests: Temba Bavuma (C), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Tony de Zorzi, Zubayr Hamza, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne.