Centurion (South Africa): After a heart-breaking loss in the ODI World Cup final, senior players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, and Ravichandran Ashwin are all set to take on a relatively young South African side in Centurion in a Boxing Day Test, starting here on Tuesday.
India will face the hosts Proteas for the two-test match series starting here. The second Test match will be played at Cape Town.
This is India’s eighth trip to Rainbow Nation after South Africa’s comeback in cricket in 1992. Skipper Rohit Sharma-led side has the huge task of emerging victorious to seal their first-ever Test match series on South African soil. However, the heavy rains predicted on the first two days of the Centurion Test need to subside.
The Centurion track offers pace, lateral movement and bounce, making it one of the most difficult conditions to bat on. There are no such big stands in the stadium, which allows the wind to play a major factor. Notably, as the overcast conditions are being expected, the wind will also be relatively heavy and cooler, helping the bowl to do some movement.
Indian batters have struggled in the pace and bouncy pitches at the rainbow nation, resulting in India having never won the Test series in South Africa. However, former skipper MS Dhoni is the only Indian captain to level or draw the series in the Rainbow Nation.
Around six captains have led India including Mohammed Azharuddin (1992) failing, as did Sachin Tendulkar (1996) and Sourav Ganguly (2001). Rahul Dravid (2006-07), MS Dhoni (2010-11 and 2013-14), and Virat Kohli (2018-19 and 2021-22), but none of them could win the elusive series in South Africa.
A wounded Rohit Sharma can prove to be very dangerous and one can see the fire in his eyes to lead India to a historic series win. However, the job will not be easy for the visitors but they have the best chance to conquer the Proteas challenge. The Indian skipper must have not forgotten the two consecutive losses in two ICC finals (ODI World Cup and ICC World Test Championship) and India would look to win the series and top the World Test Championship points table.
Similarly, Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer, who have proven their mettle on sub-continental pitches, need to up their game in more challenging batting conditions. Iyer, especially, with his well-documented weakness against the short ball, will have to churn out something really special.
India will miss the services of ODI World Cup hero Mohammed Shami due to an ankle injury, hence, it will be interesting to see who replaces him in the playing XI. Mukesh Kumar, who made his Test debut in West Indies will be the likely replacement for Shami but pacer Prasidh Krishna has the advantage of his height which can help to extract extra bounce from the pitch.
It is expected that KL Rahul will be preferred as wicketkeeper-batter, considering his batting abilities. The team management handing over wicket-keeping responsibilities to KL Rahul can be viewed from two different prisms. However, stumper KS Bharat was also included in the squad after Ishan Kishan withdrew his name from it.
The not-so-positive aspect will be the sheer desperation not to lose that extra batter in Iyer and also not looking at the bigger picture that KL Rahul could find it extremely difficult to stand up to seasoned off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in a month against England at home, provided Ishan Kishan isn't back from his 'mental fatigue' break.
South Africa, on the other hand, has a lethal bowling attack consisting of Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, Gerald Coetzee and Marco Jansen while Keshav Maharaj will take care of the spin bowling department. The Temba Bavuma-led side can threaten India’s relative youngsters including Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shreyas Iyer, who are on the tour of the rainbow nation for the first time.
However, they are seeking more experience in their batting lineup. Former skipper Dean Elgar, who has announced his retirement after the series and skipper Bavuma will lead Proteas with the bat while Aiden Markram and Rassie Van der Dussen will look to better their stats against India at home conditions. Markram had scored 216 runs at an average of 18.00 in 12 innings with only one half-century under his belt and Van der Dussen had amassed only 117 runs, averaging 23.40 in six innings.
The match starts at 1:30 PM IST.
Squads:
India: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wicket-keeper), Shreyas Iyer, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wicket-keeper), Abhimanyu Easwaran.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (Captain), Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Dean Elgar, Keegan Petersen, Kyle Verreynne (wicket-keeper), Tristan Stubbs (wicket-keeper), Nandre Burger, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, David Bedingham.
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