South Africa captain Dean Elgar is wary of the threat posed by Jasprit Bumrah ahead of the Test series against India, which begins at Centurion on Sunday.

“He (Bumrah) is a world class bowler. If there is one bowler who can exploit South African conditions pretty well, it would be him. But again, we don’t focus on one guy. India as a whole is a pretty, pretty good side,” Elgar said during a virtual interaction on Tuesday. “They’ve been a pretty good side for the last two to three years and have toured very well of late.

“India have an immensely improved bowling line-up, especially playing away from home as well. We’re very mindful of what we’re going to be up against.

“Being in South Africa I would like to think we’re a lot more accustomed to our home conditions. So I would rather be sitting here knowing that than possibly sitting in the

Indian dressing room knowing that they have to face our bowlers.”

Elgar expects pitches to have enough spice for the bowlers. “There’s always a little bit of spice in South African wickets, especially in the Highveld region. I wouldn’t see too much change (from last series). If you apply yourself as a batter, if you nail down your skills and your disciplines, you can really score runs in Centurion.

“Again, with the ball in hand you can exploit the conditions if you got pace and bounce,” he said.

Elgar said the team’s on-field performances wouldn’t be affected by any of the off-the-field controversies. “What happens off the field, for me, is irrelevant now,” he said. “Us as a players’ unit, we’ve been through such crappy times that we’ve actually formulated such a good bond within our group, and for me it’s not an excuse for us to use.

“I think we’ve formulated something that works for us. I referred to us as the players’ group — we’re extremely strong, our culture’s been tested and pushed to levels that I didn’t think it would be pushed to in my short term of being captain, and I think we’ve come out on top of it.”