"When you have seam and bounce, with that technique, he's got a problem."

In his playing days, he was acknowledged for being a doughty, tough man to dislodge at thecrease, at a time when some of the best fast bowlers, particularly those from the West Indies, terrorised batsmen at will. Kepler Wessels also entered a unique bracket when opened the batting for Australia, and then led South Africa, after the latter came back into the international fold. TOI caught up with former South African captain Kepler Wessels.

Excerpts:

Why is Rohit Sharma struggling in South Africa?

He will always struggle to score runs in SA because of his footwork. He plants his front foot across to the off-side and in SA, the pitches always seam and bounce a bit. This is the reason that he averages around 10 there. He'll always struggle there because of his technique. It doesn't affect him in India and even in Australia, because the ball doesn't seam there, it just bounces, but when you have seam and bounce, with that technique, he's got a problem.

You were a left-handed opener yourself. How impressed are you with Shikhar Dhawan?

He looks very impressive in one-day cricket. He's superb there. In the Tests, he's still vulnerable to the short ball, but the overall package is very good.

India were outclassed in the Tests, but they are playing at a different level in the ODIs. What has changed?

I think that they've got a totally different team, a totally different arsenal. They have introduced the two leg-spinners which has totally confused the SA set-up. I think that India's one-day team at the moment is very good. Their Test team is good too. I mean they are ranked No. 1 in the Tests, but I think that this ODI team, with the combination and variety that they have is excellent.

Why are SA's batsmen struggling so much against leg spin?

I'm a little bit surprised to see them struggle to the degree that they have. Then also, when you take out all their entire top batsmen (due to injuries), with the exception of Hashim Amla, and expose all their inexperienced players, I suppose that's going to happen, but I have been a bit surprised that they have struggled as badly as they have. They are particularly struggling to play the wrist spin and the chinaman. They are facing difficulty picking the ball which turns away from the right angle, that's the one they are really struggling with..