India eye vengeance as they step foot in Centurion to lock horns with South Africa

Virat Kohli will be leading the Indian cricket team into the treacherous shores of South Africa desperate to get back to the similar flow of runs that he scored in India’s last tour.

However, this tour can very well ring the last bells for Pujara and Rahane if they fail to deliver once again. KL Rahul will have quite a few eyeballs strapped on him as he was handed over the vice-captaincy in the longest format of the game with Rohit out of the equation. India will be riding high on confidence as their recent exploits on the road has been something that they will be proud of. They thumped Australia Down Under and still maintain a lead in the unfinished India England Test series.

Bumrah will be a primary weapon for India given the pacy conditions of the South African surfaces. He will also be tagged along by the rising fast bowler, Mohammed Siraj who has been in the form of his life ever since his debut in Melbourne.

India will have to resort to a weary approach against the mighty fast bowling trident of Ngidi, Rabada and Magala. Despite Nortje being ruled out of the Test series, the aforementioned names are more than enough to challenge any batting line-up.

Team news:

India will be without their opener, Rohit Sharma who was ruled out of the series. South Africa will be bereft of their star fast bowler, Anrich Nortje as the latter copped an injury just ahead of the Test series.

The injury of Rohit allowed Priyank Panchal to be called in the line-up who was pretty decent in India A’s pursuits in South Africa while the hosts are already packed with a powerful bowling line-up that will also be blessed with the addition of experienced Keshav Maharaj and Duanne Olivier.

Match details:

India vs South Africa, (Test series, 1st Test) 

Venue: SuperSport Park, Centurion

Date: December 26-30, 2021 

Time: 1:30 PM IST

Head-to-head:

Matches: 39

India: 14

South Africa: 15

Draws: 10

Stats:

Sachin Tendulkar has been the highest run-scorer in the longest format of the sport in the rivalry of these two teams with 1741 runs from 25 Test matches and 45 innings.

Virat Kohli is the highest Indian run-scorer in a single innings in Test cricket at Centurion with a blistering and unbeaten knock of 153 back in 2018.

Ravichandran Ashwin is the highest Indian wicket-taker against South Africa who is still active in the cricketing roster. He has claimed 53 Test wickets so far with Anil Kumble being the all-time highest Indian wicket-taker against South Africa with 84.

Wriddhimaan Saha is the leading Indian wicket-keeper with the highest number of dismissals in South Africa that has seen him affecting 29 dismissals from just 9 games that have placed him ahead of Quinton de Kock and MS Dhoni.

Squads:

India: Virat Kohli (Captain), KL Rahul (VC), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohd. Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Md. Siraj, Priyank Panchal

South Africa: Dean Elgar (c), Temba Bavuma (vc), Quinton de Kock (wk), Kagiso Rabada, Sarel Erwee, Beuran Hendricks, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Keegan Petersen , Rassie van der Dussen , Kyle Verreynne , Marco Jansen , Glenton Stuurman , Prenelan Subrayen , Sisanda Magala, Ryan Rickelton, Duanne Olivier.