Virat Kohli, bruised from being fired as India’s one-day captain, is seeking to rebound by leading his country to an historic triumph in South Africa in a three-match Test series to start at SuperSport Park in Centurion today.
South Africa are the only regular Test-playing nation where India have yet to win a series.
“We have worked really hard to win series away from India,” India vice captain K.L. Rahul told a news conference on Friday. “We’ve won series in England and Australia, which gives us a lot of confidence. We haven’t won a series in South Africa, which gives us extra motivation to do our best.”
Photo: AFP
South African captain Dean Elgar said he thought the teams were evenly matched.
“India are No. 1 in the world for a reason, but the fact that we are playing in our own backyard gives as an advantage,” Elgar said.
Despite losing to New Zealand in last year’s world Test championship final, India are the top-ranked Test team, five places ahead of South Africa, who have lost several key players to retirement in the past few years.
Kohli leads an experienced side.
Crucially, they have the fast-bowling firepower to match South Africa in conditions that usually favor pace.
No fewer than 10 of India’s 18-man squad have been on a tour of South Africa previously.
Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ishant Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, Umesh Yadav and reserve wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha are on their fourth tour of the country.
Ajinkya Rahane and Mohammed Shami are on their third tour, while Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah were part of the closely contested 2017-2018 series that South Africa won 2-1.
“We know what to expect and we’ve had great preparation,” Rahul said. “The pace and bounce is very different to other countries, and it was very important that we came here early and had preparation in the middle.”
Rahul indicated that India were likely to maintain their recent strategy of picking five bowlers, which he acknowledged would lead to a “very difficult discussion” about settling on five specialist batsmen.
India have the luxury of chosing between capable players in batting and bowling, while South Africa’s options seem limited, especially since fast bowler Anrich Nortje withdrew from the series because of a hip injury.
South Africa will, of necessity, field a batting lineup short of proven quality, with two players in their top six yet to score a Test century, while India might be unable to find a place for Shreyas Iyer, who scored 105 and 65 on debut against New Zealand last month.
Elgar confirmed that wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock was only available for the first Test and would then take paternity leave, which will leave the home team’s batting even more vulnerable.
South Africa’s fast bowling remains their strength, but the loss of Nortje is a major blow.
A lot will depend on former world No. 1 Kagiso Rabada, whose form in the past two years has been moderate.
The hosts will also hope that the injury-plagued Lungi Ngidi can recapture the form that enabled him to take 6-39 on debut against India at the same venue in 2017-2018.
In South Africa’s favor, Centurion has been a fortress for the home side, with 21 wins and only two defeats in 26 Tests at the venue.
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