SA's 1st Test star reveals Kohli, Rohit influence: 'Would mould technique like Kallis, Gibbs but after a bad game...'

South Africa stunned the world by announcing a second-string team for their upcoming Test series in New Zealand. The team had seven uncapped players, including the captain Neil Brand.

Among the few players who have earned Test caps in the past will be batter David Bedingham, who made his debut in the first Test against India. Bedingham ended up being one of the stars for the hosts as they thrashed India by an innings and 32 runs in Centurion and is now looking to continue in the same vein in the second and final Test.

The Indian pace attack was smelling blood when Bedingham, having broken a strong partnership between Dean Elgar and Tony de Zorzi and then dismissed Keegan Petersen immediately thereafter. However, Bedingham counter-punched his way to a half-century on debut, eventually scoring 56 in 87 balls, and put up a 131-run partnership with Elgar for the fourth wicket which came in just 182 balls.

The 29-year-old has stated that while he moulded his technique around South African greats Jacques Kallis and Herschelle Gibbs, he would change it and try to emulate India stalwarts Virat Kohli or captain Rohit Sharma after he had a bad game.

"My two favourites among Indian players are Sharma and Kohli. I think when I was between 13-18, I was trying to mould my technique like theirs (Kallis and Gibbs) and when I had a bad game, I changed my technique to copy Kohli’s or try probably Sharma’s,” Bedingham told PTI news agency ahead of the New Year's Test in Cape Town.

Bedingham also spoke about the influence of England Test captain Ben Stokes, with whom he played County cricket in Durham. "I think we talked a lot. I think he refrained from talking about cricket a lot. He spoke about dealing with pressures, speaking to a world-class player like him did help handle the pressure better during the first Test,” Bedingham said.

Return from career-threatening incident

Bedingham was around 21 and full of promise when horrifying car accident almost derailed his career. It forced him to be out of action for a year but then made a strong-willed comeback. Bedingham eventually became a Western Province bulwark and also plied his trade for Durham in English county, making more than 6000 runs in 89 games before making an impressive Test debut against India at Centurion last week.

Now, Bedingham is in a singular space, playing his first Test at Newlands, his home ground and the venue for the second Test against India. “Whether I score runs or not, won’t matter to them (his family) a lot or to my friends. But me just walking out there, will be special,” Bedingham said.

He feels that the moment can’t be quantified by performance. “It’s quite surreal to play the game here as (in the) previous years I would come to watch. My friends are all buzzing me, not to enquire if I am playing or not but for the tickets,” Bedingham laughed.