JOHANNESBURG: India can seal an historic Test series win in South Africa when they face the hosts in the second Test starting at the Wanderers Stadium on Monday but coach Rahul Dravid feels that his side had room for improvement.

Speaking at a pre-match press conference on Sunday, Dravid sent out a clear message that there was no room for complacency following India’s 113-run win in the first Test in Centurion.

Dravid praised the Indian bowlers for twice bowling out South Africa for under 200 and gave credit to the top-order batsmen for setting up the game with their batting on the first day.

“It’s not very often you come to overseas conditions and get to 272 for three on the first day,” he said. “We know we could probably have got more [runs]. To get bowled out for 327, that’s something we’d like to improve.”

Dravid added that India could also have batted better in the second innings, when they were dismissed for 174.

“It was a good Test match but there are areas where we can learn and improve because we know we are going to have to do it in this game.” India’s recently-appointed coach said there was an awareness in the team that in the past that “maybe we’ve slipped up a little after winning a game. We’re going to work very hard because I expect South Africa to respond tomorrow”.

Dravid gave credit to Virat Kohli’s role as captain and said it was “just a matter of time” before Kohli started making big scores again.

Kohli continued his run of low scores in the first Test that has seen him unable to profit from good starts to his innings.

Dravid admitted there had been a lot of “noise” around Kohli in the last few weeks after he was axed as captain of the One-Day International side, causing some controversy back home.

But he said there were no concerns about his form with the bat as India seek a first-ever Test series win in South Africa.

“Virat has been phenomenal over the last 20 days we have been here, the way he has trained and connected with the group,” Dravid said.

“I could not speak more highly about him and the way he has committed to his own preparation and his own practice. On and off the field he has been a fantastic leader.

“We were in a very good space leading into the first test and a lot of that was led by Virat. It is a pleasure to work with someone like him. He batted well but cannot convert those starts.”

Dravid believes the runs will come for Kohli, who has not scored a Test century in more than two years. He has managed 652 runs in his last 14 Tests at an average of 26.08, almost half his career average of 50.34.

“I really feel there is going to be a big run of scores coming in from him,” Dravid said. “It might not happen in the next game, though I hope it does, but it will click in place. He has been a credit to himself and Indian cricket in the last few weeks.”

ELGAR ‘SHOCKED’ BY DE KOCK RETIREMENT

South African captain Dean Elgar said Kyle Verreynne would replace the now-retired Quinton de Kock as wicketkeeper-batsman and hinted that there might be “other combinations” that would change in the home team’s line-up.

Elgar said he was “pretty sho­cked” by De Kock’s decision to retire from Test cricket, which was announced after the first Test.

“I wasn’t aware that it was going to happen,” Elgar told a virtual news conference on Sunday. “Sitting down with Quinny he explained the reasons for it and I very much respect his decision and the space he is in at the moment.”

Elgar said he did not believe De Kock’s decision to quit Tests and concentrate on white-ball cricket at the age of 29 would spark an exodus of players deciding to chase the big money available in competitions like the Indian Premier League.

But he said he hoped De Kock would not come to regret opting out of the five-day game.

“I don’t think his decision is going to jeopardise Test cricket going forward,” he said. “We as a group have to get over it. The game moves on.”

Elgar stressed there was no need for panic in the South African ranks but their batsmen need to take more responsibility if they are to fight their way into the series.

“We don’t need to panic,” said Elgar. “I still think we’ve got a lot of capable players even if they are, in the main, quite inexperienced, but they also have to take the responsibility.

“One or two poor innings with the bat does not make them bad cricketers and backing them is an extremely important thing going forward in Test cricket. That’s how you build and grow your test team.”

Elgar said there had been some hard conversations in the days following the first Test defeat where South Africa failed to get 200 runs in either innings.

“There were definite areas that we spoke about, looking to go back to the basic principles of batting and tightening up on our bowling.”

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2022