Where Virat Kohli and co. will be aiming to upstage the South African batting order with the spin attack, the visitors will try to outdo the home side using their own strength pace. "South Africa's history has been that we have been very good with our seam bowlers wherever in the world we have been."
"When you have got the quality of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel and up and coming KG (Kagiso Rabada), we have been blessed and fortunate to be in a situation that our seam bowlers have done well in the sub-continent and that can be an attacking option. Not many countries can boast of that," he said on the eve of the first Test in Mohali.
"If you are faced with a raging turner and when JP (Jean-Paul Duminy) plays, it adds the spin option for us.Obviously with him not being in the team for the first Test it adds a bit more dynamic to the team. I don't think we have to look too far ahead. As I said traditionally in the last 15 years our strength has been the seamers. I believe in the old West Indian saying of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.'"
"So if the seamers do the job for you in the sub-continent or anywhere else in the world then so be it. Out spinners over the years have developed mentally and technically to deal with situations of attacking and defending at various times. I think in conditions when wickets turn, spinners have multiple roles. Sometimes when it doesn't turn they fall into a defensive role and when it does, naturally they turn into an attacking role," he stated as a matter of fact.
He also backed India's stance of preparing favourable pitches to suit the home need and insisted that it is a standard practice. "If you come to Africa, you will have a South African kind of wicket. So that's what spectators want and sometimes associations want the games to go five days, but as a player wherever I go in the world I expect the conditions to suit the home team," he said in response to the raging controversy over preparations of pitch.