The Men in Blue have made their way to South Africa to take on the Proteas in the red ball and white ball competitions. The two nations will square off in a three-game T20I series starting on December 10 and an equally-sized ODI series starting on December 17. The true test for both teams, though, will be winning the two-match Test series starting on December 26 in order to gain vital points on the World Test Championship (WTC) points table.
Remarkably, in eight Test series played in South Africa, India has never prevailed and has only drawn once, in 2010 (1-1). As a result, the Rohit Sharma-led team, which is going for history, will find great significance in the forthcoming tour series. The great all-rounder from South Africa, Jacques Kallis, thinks that although India would have a difficult time defeating the Proteas at home, the series will be fiercely contested.
Although South Africa is a formidable opponent, the Indian team is a strong one. Newlands is likely to work in India, and Centurion is likely to work in South Africa. It’s going to be a great series, and in one or two of the sessions, one team may perform better than the other.
to the Hindustan Times, Jacques Kallis stated, “It would be a closely contested contest.”
India has not selected Cheteshwar Pujara or Ajinkya Rahane for the Test team.
The series’ opening test will take place at SuperSport Park in Centurion on December 26 and its second test at Newlands in Cape Town on January 3. Ruturaj Gaikwad and Yashasvi Jaiswal were chosen ahead of experienced pros Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara in the Indian Test team’s lineups.
Thus, it will fall to Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to lead the entire batting lineup and impart their knowledge to the younger players. As for the ODI team, KL Rahul has been handed captaincy responsibilities, whereas Suryakumar Yadav will be guiding the T20I team.
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