Top Indian performers from 2018 South Africa tour

In less than two weeks, India will be in action in the Rainbow Nation where they will be up against a resurgent home side.

With the surfaces promising serious pace and seam, South Africa are known for hostile track for touring teams.

The last time India explored the Rainbow Nation, the longest format of the game allowed them fragmented glory as they could win only one Test out of the three played.

As the series comes closer, let’s take a look at the top Indian performers from 2018 when India were in South Africa.

Virat Kohli – 286 runs

Virat Kohli was India’s best performer in the series as his resilience, technique, and boldness helped India put up whatever fight they had up their sleeves. From the 6 innings that he played in, he managed to rack up 286 runs at an extraordinary average of 47.66 that witnessed him staying unbeaten for a knock of 153 runs. More importantly, he scored at a blistering strike rate of 60.21 that made him an almost unputdownable batter against the fast-bowling trident of the Proteas.

Mohammed Shami – 15 wickets

Despite India’s batting exploits being limited in the longest format of the sport the last time they visited South Africa, the bowling heroics balanced it out for the visitors. Mohammed Shami led the charge as he conjured some devastating swing that brought him on level numbers alongside Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander as the highest wicket-taker of the tournament. He bowled a crazy 83 overs that saw him claim 15 wickets at a strike rate of 33.4. It was his fast-bowling ruthlessness that brought down the South African batters.

Jasprit Bumrah – 14 wickets

Bumrah fell just one wicket shy of the ace triptych as he claimed 14 wickets, making excellent use of the brutal pace that the tracks had to offer. He bowled 112 overs that saw him claim 14 wickets at an average of 25.21. He was bang on target every single time he eyed the toe of the batters. Either he kissed the timbre or he ended up rattling the batters with his menacing bowling.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar – 10 wickets

Another Indian ace pacer, Bhuvneshwar Kumar also made good use of the pace that the tracks could offer and claimed ten crucial scalps. He bowled a relatively lesser number of overs than his counterparts as his over tally was 67. He bowled at an average of 20.30 and claimed ten wickets with his best figures being 4 for 87.

Virat Kohli was also the only batter in the entire Test series to score a century as the one who came closest to this feat in the series was Aiden Markram with a knock of 94. Maybe the series didn’t go India’s way but Virat Kohli issued a statement of intent and menace to the South African bowlers.