There's a real hunger and desire to beat India in India: Keshav Maharaj

South Africa faces a tough Test series in India starting November 14. The team expresses a strong desire to win their first Test match in India in 15 years. Spinner Keshav Maharaj believes the pitches will be good and deteriorate over time. South Africa carries momentum from their recent series in Pakistan.

South Africa have not won a Test match in India for 15 years but there's a "real hunger and desire" to put an end to it in the upcoming series, said spinner Keshav Maharaj while describing it as one of their toughest tours.

India and South Africa will lock horns in a two-match Test series from November 14, with Kolkata and Guwahati playing hosts.

Acknowledging the magnitude of the challenge ahead of South Africa, Maharaj said during an online interaction, "There's a real hunger and desire within the camp to beat India in India. It's probably one of the toughest tours, if not the toughest in the Proteas calendar, for the various generations that have come (here).

"We feel like it's one of our biggest tests. And it will be a wonderful opportunity to grade ourselves, to see how far we've come slowly.

"We have started to conquer other parts of the subcontinent. And I feel like this is one assignment that we really, really want to take."
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Despite being one of the most consistent sides in Test cricket in recent years, South Africa drew a blank in both of their last two series in India, in 2015 and 2019.

Maharaj also believed that the curators here are unlikely to provide spin-friendly pitches in the series, unlike in Pakistan recently when their spinners ruled the roost to help South Africa level the rubber after losing the first game.

"I don't think it will be as spin-friendly as we experienced in Pakistan. I think it will be good wickets that will deteriorate as the game goes on. So, probably, more of your traditional Test wickets from what we see," said left-arm spinner.

"I think if you watched a bit of the West Indies series, it was good wickets that went almost to day four and five. So, I do believe that the sort of narrative is changing in terms of getting wickets.
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"They (India) are a wonderful team and they've come a long way, especially with the transition that they have had. I would think that they want to go with good cricket wickets, just judging from the West Indies series."

In their previous two tours to India, the Proteas saw the likes of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja dictate terms on turning tracks.

Maharaj also said they will carry a bit of momentum from Pakistan into the rubber against India.

"We are carrying a bit of momentum from Pakistan in that second Test, (where) we showed that regardless of the toss, we're still going to fight and try to force the result in our way.
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"I think there's a real precision about how we've gone about our business throughout this cycle so far, and in the previous cycle," said Maharaj.
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Source: EconomicTimes
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