AFP, Johannesburg :
Indian captain Virat Kohli has every reason to be confident his team can seal an historic Test series win in South Africa when they face the hosts in the second Test at the Wanderers Stadium today.
“It’s a ground we all loving playing on and we are looking forward to it,” said Kohli after India won the first Test at Centurion by 113 runs on Thursday.
The numbers bear out Kohli’s optimism.
India have yet to be beaten in a Test match at South Africa’s premier cricket stadium and have a record of two wins and three draws since their first tour of South Africa in 1992/93.
Despite the Wanderers being renowned as a ground favouring fast bowlers — which should have put India at a disadvantage on some of their earlier tours, before the emergence of their potent current pace bowling attack – India have performed consistently well in Johannesburg.
The ground holds particularly happy memories for some of the Indian touring party.
New coach Rahul Dravid made his first Test century in a drawn match in 1996/97 and ten years later captained India to their first Test win in South Africa.
Kohli gave a batting masterclass when he made 119 and 96 in a high-scoring draw in 2013/14 to enable India to set the hosts a seemingly impossible target of 458 runs to win.
In that match, though, South Africa came close to beating India for the only time in Johannesburg, making 450 for eight in a dramatic draw.
Kohli then led India to victory on a sub-standard pitch four seasons ago, a win he has highlighted as a “milestone” which gave the side the belief to follow up with a series win in Australia last January. They also lead England 2-1 with the final Test — called off last year due to covid in the Indian camp — to be played later in 2022. Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane all made crucial runs on a pitch which was halted at one stage because conditions were regarded as dangerous, while Mohammed Shami, one of the heroes of the win in Centurion, took five for 28 in the second innings.
