Two years after Virat Kohli shouted angrily right into a stump microphone in what proved to be his last Test as captain, India will search as soon as once more to breach the ‘final frontier’ for his or her Test group after they start a two-match series at SuperSport Park on Tuesday.
South Africa is the one common Test-playing nation the place India have but to win a series.
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Bavuma on dealing with India
“There is a lot of pride to be able to keep that record intact,” mentioned South African captain Temba Bavuma on Sunday.
“There will be extra drive and motivation (for India), so we will need to be at our best.”
Kohli led a robust Indian group in 2021/22, with excessive expectations after profitable excursions of Australia and England.
India gained the primary Test at Centurion however South Africa, impressed by then-captain Dean Elgar, succeeded in two hard-fought fourth innings chases within the remaining matches to clinch the series.
Kohli’s frustration boiled over when a tv evaluation at a vital second within the decisive match went in favour of Elgar.
He resigned as Test captain the day after the match.
Both Kohli and Elgar stay as key batsmen for his or her groups, though not as captains.
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Elgar, 36, who will retire from worldwide cricket after the second Test in Cape Town, was axed as captain after a shake-up of the Test facet earlier this yr which included the appointment of Shukri Conrad as coach.
Conrad confirmed Elgar’s choice to retire was primarily based on a dialog between the pair however praised the opening batsman’s “resilience, dog fight, pride in performance and that ability to never back down.”
They are qualities which will probably be a lot wanted in opposition to India with South Africa missing expertise and high quality of their high order batting.
India, too, have query marks over their batting, with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane now not of their plans.
Both confirmed on earlier excursions a capability to face up to South Africa’s quick bowlers on the nation’s historically vigorous pitches.
Conrad assured
South Africa will once more be counting on tempo to unsettle the Indian batsmen.
“India have a quality batting line-up but we’ve got quality bowlers,” mentioned Conrad.
Young weapons Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee performed in four-day home matches final week however the extra skilled Kagiso Rabada (sore heel) and Lungi Ngidi (ankle sprain) each missed the chance to get some red-ball cricket.
Conrad, although, anticipated each to be match for the Test.
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“They’ll be fresh, they’ll be firing,” he mentioned.
India will probably be with out quick bowler Mohammed Shami due to damage however Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj will nonetheless spearhead a potent assault.
The matches would be the first for South Africa within the 2023-25 World Test Championship cycle.
It’s India’s second series within the championship after they gained one match and drew one in opposition to the West Indies in July.
Squads:
South Africa:
Temba Bavuma (capt), Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Keegan Petersen, David Bedingham, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne (wkt), Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Nandre Burger.
India:
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Rohit Sharma (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wkt), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wkt), Abhimanyu Easwaran.
Umpires: Paul Reiffel (AUS), Langton Rusere (ZIM).
TV umpire: Ahsan Raza (PAK)
Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG).
Fixtures:
December 26-30, first Test, Centurion
January 3-7, second Test, Cape Town
© Agence France-Presse
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