Going into the third Test in Nagpur, India are firmly placed in the driver’s seat with a 1-0 lead in the series. South Africa, on the other hand, are desperately looking for some kind of momentum, after the loss in Mohali and the washout in Bengaluru. To make matters worse, the visitors’ struggles with injuries is far from over. Dale Steyn has been ruled out of the Nagpur Test. Despite having the Proteas at the edge of the sword, Indian captain Virat Kohli refuses to dwell into any psychological games with the opponents, and insists on his team doing things right to strengthen their position. “We have never been a team that’s played mind games,” Virat said ahead of the Test. “We like to focus on our strengths and believe in our abilities. That’s what putting pressure on the opposition is. If you can go out there and express yourself in a good situation and a bad situation, then the pressure is obviously shifted on to the other side. “I think that’s what we want to maintain. As a group we like to focus on our strengths and what we need to work on rather than giving statements in the media and talking about stuff that has no relevance to the Test match.” What has compounded South Africa’s woes in this series is the lack of runs from their leader, Hashim Amla. He is not only their most dependable batsman but also the best player of spin bowling in the team, along with AB de Villiers. Virat said it has been the strategy of most teams to weaken the first link and induce a domino effect on the opposition, it is not a ploy India adopt.

“If you see any sort of series or tours in the past, the opposition will obviously look to target the captain because he is one making strategies. The opposition finds it very important for him to be not comfortable when he is batting out there especially if he is a batter. That is what I have experienced in the past as well. When we tour abroad, they try to target the captain and probably their main players.

“I wouldn’t say we have targeted a particular player as such, but obviously I am sure it will be a very worrying factor for the opposition that someone who is an important player has not been able to get lots of runs in the series. We haven’t really focused on doing that, but I know for a fact that a lot of teams plan to do that when they play against us or any other side in the world. It does help a little bit, I guess.” Amla’s lack of form is a major reason why the South Africans have found it hard to negotiate the Indian spinners. Praising his spin troika of R Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja, Virat said their collective strength makes them a difficult attack to face for any batsman.

“If you see Ashwin’s bowling in the last six months, he has gone back to basics. He has not tried too much with the ball. You hardly see the carrom ball, so he is relying on his stock ball. He is flighting the ball, he is giving more revs to the ball and he is getting stronger fitness-wise as well which is helping his bowling big time because he is able to put the force behind the ball and get more turn and bounce off pitches which other batsmen find difficult to get it from. He is using his skill combined with fitness and he is just becoming a better bowler every day. “As a captain I am delighted Ashwin is in our team along with Amit Mishra, who brings a lot of variation for us and Ravindra Jadeja, who is very, very consistent. All these three put together if I was playing against them, I would find it really difficult to score off them, I can assure you that. I am sure it is not pleasant facing all three together and I am glad we have all three in our team,” Virat said. Virat also had words of praise for his team’s incredible work ethic when it comes to fielding. He cited Ajinkya Rahane’s brilliant work in the slips as an example and explained how every individual has taken upon himself to improve as a fielder. “Ajinkya is brilliant in the slips. He is someone who has brilliant reflexes, he's quick on his feet and reacts very well in close in positions. Undisputedly he is the guy who will stand in the slips more often than not. He's taken a few blinders in Sri Lanka and here in Mohali. “We as a team have decided to put in 15-20 minutes every day on reflex catching and close in fielding rather than boundary fielding and hitting the stumps which we have done since we were small. I think this is an area we want to touch up on. This is something we started in Sri Lanka and we saw the results there as well. Those half-chances were the turning points in both the Test we won. It was a conscious effort by everyone. The responsibility was left up to the players, whether they wanted to do 15-20 minutes every day and everyone put their hands up and said we want to do this for the team. “The players finish their practice and they go onto the field to do their bit. I'm really delighted that everyone is putting in that effort and if you do something honestly, the results will show on the field. I have to applaud all the fielders including the bowlers. That certainly has helped us in the past few months,” he said.