With an eye on a first ever Test series win in South Africa, India will play two Tests against the Proteas from December 26. What will their starting XI look like?
India has never won a Test series in South Africa despite leading 1-0 in 2005-06 and 2021-22. In fact, he only returned in 2010/11 without them dropping a series.
India will now head to South Africa for two Tests, with the first Test to be played at Centurion from December 26 and the second in Cape Town from January 3. Here are his four questions that tourists face:
Who will bat at five?
After a great outing in the West Indies, Yashasvi Jaiswal will be the opening batsman alongside Rohit Sharma while Virat Kohli will come into bat with two down. Despite a bright start to Shubman’s Gill’s Test career, India appear to be interested in pursuing the three-year-old.
Given the track record of five bowlers, there is only one spot left for batsmen and it will be a duel between KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer, both of whom played well in the World Cup after returning from injury layoff.
Rahul was stripped of his vice-captainship following poor performance and was further sacked during the Australia series at home earlier this year. Jasprit Bumrah is currently Rohit’s replacement, which likely means Rahul will no longer be automatically selected in the Test XI. Although Rahul led in his three ODIs in South Africa, India released Iyer after the first match and made him join his team for the Tests.
All this probably points to India’s Iyer finishing fifth ahead of Rahul in the Test in South Africa.
Is there a place for Rahul?
Of course, Rahul may still bat ahead of Gill. This could be a wise choice as Rahul is one of only two Indian openers (Wasim Jaffer is the other) to reach 100 runs in South Africa.
However, with Ishan Kishan’s withdrawal from the tour, a new slot at the Globe became available. During the World Cup, Rahul showed that his glove technique has improved significantly, but keeping wickets in longer formats is a different challenge altogether. Rahul has played only one first-class match in his career as the designated wicketkeeper.
He will face KS Bharat, who was picked by India to replace Kishan. Bharat had solid performances behind the stumps in five Test matches, some of which came on difficult pitches. He was left out, perhaps due to his batting performance (129 runs at 18.42, despite against a top-flight attack on non-easy surfaces), but he was still included in the squad as captain of India A. I am.
It remains to be seen whether India will support Rahul’s strike over Bharat’s proven wicket.
Ashwin or Shardul?
Reduced to a group of newcomers and net bowlers, India took the important decision to field four fast bowlers and their best batsman as far as spinners are concerned in Brisbane 2020-21. That meant ignoring Kuldeep Yadav in favor of Washington Sundar.
They’ve pretty much stuck to that template ever since, even after the big names came back. Ravindra Jadeja is almost the only spinner outside Asia as India supports his four fast bowlers.
However, as India discovered in the World Test Championship final, Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Mohammad Siraj are much better than other players in ‘SENA’ conditions. He could make the attack look poorer if one of them (in this case Shami) is left out.
All this speaks for R Ashwinalongside Jadeja. Ashwin’s 70 wickets in the ‘SENA’ countries are only a small part of his career, but since spending the summer of 2017 with Worcestershire, he has taken 24 wickets in the same country (each with his 30.34 )I have.
Two years ago in Johannesburg, Thakur won with 7 wins and 61 losses, which remains the best record by an Indian player in South Africa. It may depend on the conditions.
Mukesh or Prasidh?
With 151 wickets in 40 first-class matches at 21.62, Mukesh Kumar is the more experienced of the two candidates vying for the third fast bowler spot. Prasidh has played only 12 of his matches, including his two matches between the lockdown and the South Africa tour, although his 54 wickets for Krishna are at just 17.29.
He was selected for India A and took 43 for 5 against South Africa A two weeks before the first Test match, also scoring a hat-trick in Potchefstroom. But that’s not why he has an edge over Mukesh.
After India lost 2-1 in 2017-18, Mike Heisman demonstrated how the South African fast bowler’s height worked to his advantage. After India once again lost his 2-1, this time in his 2021-22 season,Head coach Rahul Dravid admitted: The difference… you have a natural height advantage. We tend to throw the ball a little higher, we tend to pay more attention to our swings, we tend to kiss the surface a little more. ”
Combined with India A’s five wickets, it favors Placido, the tallest Indian fast bowler in the team at 188 cm tall. Moreover, if India does indeed support Thakur, it is unlikely to get Mukesh. If that happens, the two-seamer won’t have enough speed.
