“We focus on cricket. Hopefully, cricket will look after us,” said Proteas Test skipper, Dean Elgar, in his arrival press conference ahead of a marquee three-Test series against India. 

Forty-five minutes before the press conference, Cricket South Africa broke the news that fast bowler, Anrich Nortje, has been ruled out of the series owing to a “persistent injury.” Many of South Africa’s bowlers will go into the Test series without a lot of competitive cricket under their belts. “It’s not ideal that they have not had playing time,” conceded Elgar.

However, Elgar emphasized the team has to ensure it is match-ready by the time the first Test begins. “We have no excuses to leave a stone unturned.” Elgar continued, “We need to crack on as a team. We can’t let setbacks keep up behind.” 

Elgar was one of South Africa’s leading batters in the home series against India in 2017-18. He hopes to contribute with the bat this time around as well. “I always want to lead from the front with the bat. Scoring runs is a massive role for me. Big percentage of my job. I’m never going to run away from that responsibility,” declared Elgar. 

Despite the challenges South African cricket is confronting off the field, Elgar said his team is focused entirely on cricket. “What happens off the field is irrelevant for me. We’ve been through such crappy times that we’ve bonded together as a group. We’ve formulated something that works for us. We can’t use off-field drama as a cop-out for us.” 

Elgar also threw his weight behind the backroom staff. “From a player’s point of view, we need to back our management. We need to give them love. They put in so much work. I know what they do behind the scenes. It’s not good to see the coaches get lambasted.”