Ravi Shastri opens up on who amongst Shikhar, Rahul and Vijay will open in South Africa

The South African tour is going to pose a huge challenge to the Indian team, with the Indian team set to tour a tough opposition after a very long time, having just toured Sri Lanka and West Indies in the past 2 years.

The Indian team management is well aware about the challenges that would be on offer in South Africa, and have hence opted for a specific strategy in this Sri Lanka series, trying to replicate South African conditions in India, and give the players a taste of what’s in store ahead.

The Indian batsmen haven’t really applied themselves in trying conditions yet, but Ravi Shastri believes that there is enough character in this team, and that both him and Virat Kohli have a series win in mind.

“We are both strong minded and both play to win at all costs. We play to win. We don’t go there to do time-pass. This is not a team that is out there to fill up the numbers. We want to compete. We want to take the game forward.” said Shastri in an interview with CNN.

Talking about the opening combination, Shastri almost confirmed that Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay will be taking first strike in Jo’burg, as both of them have been offering great things to the team in the last 12 months.

“You look at experience, you look at variety so that’s what Shikhar brings in, a left hand, right hand combination so he is a must. He has got lots of runs. Vijay the most experienced and a very good record overseas and he brings solidity. Young Rahul is immensely talented and he will get his opportunity at some stage. He might have to wait for a while but he will get his opportunity think he was the most improved player in the last 18 months. it’s just unfortunate that he didn’t convert those 60s into 150s but he will learn.” Shastri said.

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Utkarsh Bhatla