Kohli is the key man for India against SA, believes Jennings

File photo of former SA coach Ray Jennings

Former South African coach Ray Jennings is quite accustomed to the conditions in India. Speaking to Times of India on the upcoming series, he believed that India Test captain Virat Kohli will be the key man for India when they take on South Africa, starting on October 2.

Jennings – who was the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) coach from 2009 to 2013 – watched Kohli grow from a talented youngster to a mature and world-class cricketer. Jennings was key in the resurgence of RCB and transformation from a losing unit to a stronger and a competitive side.

On being asked whether India’s recent overseas performances could help them against the Number 1 Test side, Jennings agreed and hailed the impact of Kohli on the Indian squad.

“Virat Kohli brings new energy to this Indian side. I think he is trying to stamp his brand of cricket. This is a process that will take some time. He has already made an impact on the team. The South Africa series will test him because they are the top team in the world,” he said.

Jennings continued his praise of the young India Test captain. “I had said during my second year in IPL that Virat would captain India one day. Virat is a fighter. He has got excellent cricketing brain. He analyses the situation well. His work ethics are very good. These are all the qualities of a good captain. We know Virat has one or two weaknesses and I am sure he will address those in the coming years.”

“He is very passionate about his cricket and India will be benefited with his fighting spirit. He has tremendous belief in himself. There's no doubt Virat will be the key man for India in this series,” Jennings said.

The battle between Virat Kohli and Dale Steyn will be one to look out for in the two-month long series. Steyn is the most successful overseas pace bowler in subcontinent conditions, and Kohli will have to be at his best to tackle the threat that Steyn poses.

On India’s five-bowler theory, Jennings believed that for it to work the best batsman out of the five needs to be developed in order to add value to the batting line-up. “It's always an advantage when you have five bowlers. On the flip side, when you play with one batsman less, the opposition would want to have a couple of quick wickets and Kohli would be one of those wickets,” said Jennings.

“You need to make sure that your best batsman among those five bowlers needs to be developed. It's the new concept Kohli is looking at. It's a dangerous combination to go in with as at some stage your bowlers will have to handle the pressure of batting,” he suggested.

Jennings believed that for India to succeed the spinners would have to be able to control the series as the South African batsmen are good players of pace bowling.

India and South Africa face off on October 2 for the first of three T20Is, followed by five ODIs and four Test matches.