SA keen on making India’s life difficult

Centurion, December 23

South Africa head coach Shukri Conrad is confident that India won’t be able to breach the ‘final frontier’ in their Test history even as pacers Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi hit the nets ahead of the Boxing Day Test.

India is the biggest series that we are going to play this year It has been dubbed as the final frontier back in India and we are going to do our best to make sure that they don’t conquer the final frontier — Shukri Conrad, South Africa Coach

Rabada was rested from the white-ball leg as he nursing a heel niggle while Ngidi dropped out after sustaining a left ankle injury ahead of the T20Is. Today afternoon, Rabada and Ngidi were out there bowling full tilt at the centre training wicket at the Supersport Park and facing them was Dean Elgar, the man who is playing his last series.

“They will be fresh and firing (Rabada and Ngidi). I am always a firm believer of freshness,” said Conrad ahead of the team’s training session.

The 56-year-old, one in the long line of Proteas coaches without a big cricketing pedigree, is aware that India haven’t won any Test series in eight attempts, starting from 1992.

However, this is the first time that India are playing only two-Test series and Conrad expects it to be a lengthier one. “We know what history tells us. If it was ever possible to make the series ever bigger then that makes it even bigger that India have never won a Test series here,” he said. “We certainly want to hold that proud record.”