SA captain Temba Bavua won't be surprised with spin-friendly pitches on India tour

Mumbai, Oct 8 (PTI) South Africa captain Temba Bavuma is expecting India to dish out turning tracks for the two-Test series next month despite the home team's inclination towards playing on balanced tracks under captain Shubman Gill.

India have relied on their spin strength on rank turners to gain points in WTC cycles in the past but Gill has said he wants his side to play on tracks that offer equally to batters and bowlers.

WTC defending champions South Africa will play India in two Tests scheduled in Kolkata (November 14-18) and Guwahati (November 22-26).

“In terms of the surfaces in India, (they are) spinner-friendly. We won't be in shock if we get to India and we’re playing on spinner-friendly wickets,” Bavuma told the media during the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards.

“Generally, teams now are always using their conditions to their favour, especially with the World Test Championship cycle and the way that it's been set up, so we won't be surprised from that point of view,” he said.

Bavuma, who led South Africa to the title win in the 2023-25 WTC cycle, said it will depend on how visiting spinners bowl in India compared to the home team’s spinners.

“From my experience, there always seems to be a difference between the way Indian spinners bowl in their own conditions versus spinners outside of India. "There's always that challenge of foreign spinners adjusting to the conditions. They're either bowling quicker in these conditions (or) bowling flatter,” he said.

Bavuma said he is ready for a “tough” Indian tour but will look to draw inspiration from New Zealand’s 3-0 win in the 2024-25 season.

“Touring India is never an easy one. Looking at the way New Zealand went about their business, (it) was inspiring in a lot of ways. A lot of away teams come to India and haven't been successful,” he said.

“I heard Kane Williamson is going to be here. I'll definitely be asking him for tips on how they went about it,” he said before the awards ceremony.

Bavuma said former India captains Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have done their part and it was now time for the young generation under Gill to take Indian Test team forward.

“It seems as if the new era has kicked in, if I could say. (The) guys like Rohit, (and) before him, Kohli, they've done their job. They put India really on their mat and they've made India a team to really be feared.” “I’m sure India will continue to dominate. Our job as South Africa is to not allow them to dominate as much..." Bavuma said with South African batters having a lot of knowledge of Indian pitches and conditions given the time they have spent in the country, there will be a lot of knowledge-sharing.

“(There is) new leadership for India. Myself, first time (I’ll be) captaining in Test cricket in India. There's a lot of little sub-stories about it. It can really make the game a lot more beautiful,” he said.

Bavuma said South Africa’s schedule in the current WTC cycle will quash the criticism they faced before the final against Australia. The Proteas made the final having playing only 11 Tests in the 2023-25 cycle and without having faced Australia or England.

In the current cycle, South Africa will tour India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka while they will host Australia, England and Bangladesh.

“In the previous cycle, there was criticism around our route into the final, supposedly playing the weaker nations. That's not the case now. For us as players, we look at it with a lot of optimism,” Bavuma said.

With Quinton de Kock reversing his decision on ODI retirement, Bavuma said the wicketkeeper-batter will have to earn his spot.

“I'm quite a little bit biased when it comes to Quinton. I grew up playing with Quinton from school cricket,” he said.

“That he's back again, I'm as excited as a lot of fans out there. (But) there's quite a lot of young batters who have put up their name so he's obviously going to have to do what he needs to do from a run scoring point of view." PTI DDV BS BS