India Tour of South Africa: Rahul Dravid in No Mood to Discuss Internal Conversations on Virat Kohli Captaincy Row Ahead of 1st Test

Team India head coach, finally breaks his silence.

Centurion: The stage is set for an epic battle in the Rainbow Nation as the home side South Africa take on Virat Kohli-led India in the first Test match of the 3-match series at the SuperSport Park, Centurion on Boxing Day. Before the Men in Blue take the pitch, head coach Rahul Dravid addressed the media on Saturday in a virtual press-conference and finally had his say on Kohli’s captaincy row, which created immense stir in the cricketing world.

The Indian legend was in no mood to discuss ‘internal conversations’ as he respects the decision taken by the selectors.

“To be honest, that’s the role of the selectors. Not going to get into conversations I might or might not have had. Not the place or time for that, or for discussing my internal conversations in the media,” Dravid said to the media.

The ‘Wall’ acknowledges the role played by the red-ball captain as the former RCB skipper has been fantastic, both as a player and leader. He also said that his performances in the upcoming Test series will eventually benefit the team in due course.

“Virat’s played a huge role in that. As a player and leader, he’s been fantastic. He’s one of those who really loves Test cricket, hopefully he has a great series. That will benefit the team,” he told.

Probable Playing XI

India: Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Mayank Agarwal/Shreyas Iyer, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammad Siraj/Ishant Sharma.