India named their squads for all three formats for their upcoming tour of South Africa. Here are the takeaways from the Test squad.
After three T20Is and three ODIs, India will play two Test matches on their tour of South Africa (at Centurion from December 26 and at Cape Town from January 3).
On November 30, the selectors announced the teams for all three series, including some big names, who were left out. Below are the test team’s main talking points.
Indian Test Team in South Africa: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, Mohammed Shami (je nach Fitness)
End of the road for Rahane?
The selectors had excluded Cheteshwar Pujara from the Test squad for the West Indies tour earlier this year. However, Ajinkya Rahane made a comeback in the 2021-23 World Test Championship finals with scores of 89 and 46 to qualify. They even made him vice-captain, but that was clearly a stopgap measure.
With a fit Shreyas Iyer returning to the No. 4 position and sufficient reinforcements, the selectors decided to replace Rahane, who failed in his two Caribbean appearances.
… and the same for Umesh?
Probably not, as Umesh is an unusually fast bowler. Among Indian fast bowlers with 100 Test wickets for his home country, he has the highest average (25.88) and strike rate (48). Outside India, his numbers are 38.39 and 60. He could feature in the long series against England at home, but the 36-year-old may not be able to tour in Test white again.
Naming Bumrah vice-captain
Bumrah led India in the Edgbaston Test match in 2022 and most recently led India in the T20Is on the Ireland tour after returning from an 11-month injury layoff. It is unlikely that a player as injury-prone as him would be seen as Rohit’s long-term successor.
However, by appointing Rohit’s replacement, the selectors made it clear that KL Rahul, who started as vice-captain in the Test series against Australia earlier in the year, is not safe in the starting XI.
The roles Rahul may fill
Actually quite a number. Since he is a specialist opener, he can step in if either Rohit or Yashasvi Jaiswal gets injured. Rahul can replace Gill if the team management wants to promote Shubman Gill from the one-drop instead of the opener. Or maybe he’ll replace Iyer at five years old.
Rahul has started just one first-class match as the designated wicketkeeper – an emergency for the touring Indians against the County Selected XI in 2021 – but… Apart from first-choice gloveman Ishan Kishan, he is the only wicketkeeper in the team with experience. To be fair to him, during the World Cup he showed that his glove had improved a lot.
Prasidh’s selection
India lost the last two Test series in South Africa 1-2. After the 2018-19 tour, Mike Heisman explained how the South African fast bowler used his extra size on the surface.
error 404
Rahul Dravid, who has been India’s head coach for just a few months, observed the same thing during the 2021-22 tour. “For them, it felt like the ball behaved a little bit worse…on the downs – on the wicket, the extra height can make a little bit of a difference. So it felt like the ball didn’t malfunction.” I got it.
“Of course, there are people who do that. We had some balls that misbehaved, but probably not as much as they did. I think they have a natural height advantage. He’s a bowler who tends to bowl the ball a little higher, look for momentum and kiss the surface a little more.”
At 188 cm, Placido is the tallest Indian fast bowler in the team. He has made just 11 first-class appearances, but has not played since March 2022. However, each of his 49 wickets in this format makes him 17.61.
6 Like Bumrah a season ago, Placido could also make his South African debut. Placido may also make his South African debut, especially if Shami, who can play depending on his fitness, does not recover in time.
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