Even though a major controversy has erupted in Indian cricket with the national test captain and the BCCI president at loggerheads, the Indian test team looked in good spirits as they took their flight from Mumbai to South Africa, with the captain Virat Kohli himself joking around with the players.
Virat was seen having a laugh with Ishant Sharma, who is one of his best mates in the Indian camp and with whom he has played plenty of cricket since junior level itself. It was an early morning flight and Virat was trying to tease Ishant a little bit.
BCCI uploaded a video on their official Twitter handle with all the players looking quite relaxed and ready for the big tour, which is also considered to be India’s final frontier in test match cricket. While India has won test series all around the world in the last decade or so, one place which they have not conquered is South Africa.
India’s best performance in test match cricket in South Africa came in 2010 when they were able to draw a test series by 1-1 on the South African turf. Since then, they have toured South Africa twice in 2013 and 2017-18 so far and have lost the test series by 1-0 and 2-1 respectively.
This current bunch of Indian players, under the captaincy of Virat Kohli, has not just won virtually everything at home, they have beaten Australia in Australia twice and are currently leading a postponed test series against England, which took place in England, by 2-1.
Virat Kohli will further strengthen his position if India beats South Africa in South Africa
If India manages to beat South Africa on this tour, it will not only cement Virat Kohli’s position as India’s test captain for a bit more time, it will also confirm the all-time greatness of the current Indian test team.
India has a new head coach Rahul Dravid who is on his first overseas assignment, but he is someone who is able enough to take the legacy of the previous coach Ravi Shastri forward.
Dravid also looked in a jolly mood as the plane took off from Mumbai, despite the fact that he has a big challenge in hand at the moment with all the mess that has developed in India’s top cricketing leadership. Dravid will be in charge of the dressing room in South Africa and will have to ensure there are no personality clashes.
From Mumbai to Jo'Burg! 👍 👍
AdvertisementCapturing #TeamIndia's journey to South Africa 🇮🇳 ✈️ 🇿🇦 – By @28anand
Watch the full video 🎥 🔽 #SAvINDhttps://t.co/dJ4eTuyCz5 pic.twitter.com/F0qCR0DvoF
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 17, 2021
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This Indian team has many young players as well, and it is important for the leadership group to keep the dressing room environment smooth so that it, in no way, affects the morale of the players with all the controversy going outside.
