‘Pressure will be on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’ – Former cricketer analyses India’s Test squad ahead of South Africa tour

India’s former cricketer Gautam Gambhir recently analysed India’s test squad ahead of the two-match test series against South Africa and India’s tour of South Africa. Gambhir believes that Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli will be under a lot of pressure throughout the series considering the other batters in the squad do not have much experience and the South African bowling squad is very strong. 

Gambhir recently discussed on Star Sports Network that the Indian squad might get an edge with their lethal bowling attack but if their batters do not put many runs on the board then it can be a problem for them. He even assessed South Africa’s test squad and said they might not be as powerful as they were back in 2011 but they are still in a good position. 

Gautam Gambhir on India’s test squad against South Africa

“Pace, bounce and seam. I believe your batting will definitely be under pressure because South Africa probably do not have the same batting they had in 2011 but their bowling still has the might – (Kagiso) Rabada, (Gerald) Coetzee, (Nandre) Burger and Marco Jansen,” Gambhir said during a discussion on Star Sports.

“I believe the pressure will be on Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli because they have that experience. Bowlers definitely win you the series in South Africa but if your batters don’t put runs on the board, you won’t be able to create pressure for your bowlers,” he added.

“So don’t talk about the batting only, the bowling will be under as much pressure, because there will be expectations from bowling. If Mohammed Shami had been there, India would have been all-out favourites. Mohammed Siraj is still young. So I believe your bowling will be tested as much as your batting,” he concluded.

India Test squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wk), Abhimanyu Easwaran.

South Africa Test squad: Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Dean Elgar, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne (wk).