It has not been a good tour for South Africa in India so far, having lost the first two Tests, and thus ruling out the possibilities of laying hands on the trophy. Proteas batsman Dean Elgar was questioned on the tough tour by reporters and in his response, the 32-year-old said described it as a “challenging tour”. In a video uploaded by ESPNCricinfo, Elgar was heard criticising Indian food and hotels.
“It’s a challenging tour. You get stretched as a person, you get stretched as a cricketer, I think you get to know yourself quite a lot as a person when you come to the smaller places where the hotels are maybe not as good, and you get challenged on the food you eat potentially,” Elgar said.
“It’s always a good learning curve coming to India. They’re very streetwise and clever with touring teams,” he had added.
The comments did not go down with a section of Indian fans on Twitter, who were quick to slam the Proteas player for his remarks, and called the statement as “excuses”.
Meanwhile, India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and unsurprisingly opted to bat in the third and final test against South Africa on Saturday as the hosts chase a series sweep in Ranchi. Having lost the last two tosses, South Africa captain Faf du Plessis turned up with Temba Bavuma as the proxy skipper for the flipping of the coin and yet Kohli won his third successive toss of the series.
Local favourite Shahbaz Nadeem will make a surprising test debut after being called up late on Friday as cover for fellow left-arm spinner Kuldeep Yadav who complained of left-shoulder pain.
