India will take on South Africa in the first Test of the two-match series at Supersport Park in Centurion from Tuesday, December 26. India haven’t won Test series in South Africa as last time in 2021-22, the side under the leadership of Virat Kohli had lost the series by 2-1 after being 1-0 up.
India
Rohit & Co. will have a golden opportunity to etch their names in history if they can manage to defeat the Rainbow Nations in this series. Notably, to date, India hasn’t won a Test series on South African shores, missing out on both previous occasions despite winning the first Test of the rubber.
India would want to rewrite history, with their mainstays like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Jasprit Bumrah returning to the mix after a World Cup campaign that was so near yet so far. Mohammed Shami will not feature in this series as he failed to reach peak fitness.
The tourists are going through a transitional phase in the batting unit as they have left out Rahane and Pujara. Now, the onus of the middle order will be on the numero uno Virat Kohli, who averages 51.35 here, Shreyas Iyer (his first Test tour on these shores), and KL Rahul, who has been assigned a new role.
In the bowling department, India would hinge on the pace attack or Bumrah, Siraj, Shardul and Prasidh Krishna who is likely to make his test debut.
South Africa
On the other hand, South African captain Temba Bavuma, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Gerald Coetzee, and Marco Jansen will be back in their whites. Southpaw opener Dean Elgar is set to retire after the series.
George born Former Kolpak player David Bedingham, 29 , is set to make his test debut for The Rainbow nations.
The winner of this rubber might be decided by who excels in the rivalry between the visitors’ batting mainstays and the hosts’ bowling guns.
Pitch Report
Supersport Park always offers a friendly surface to the pacers, and this time it is likely to assist the seamers more. Rain might play spoilsport on the first two days of the Test, as the weather forecast for Centurion suggests.
Ind vs SA Head to Head
Overall: 42 tests
India win : 15
South Africa: 17
Draw : 10
Ind vs SA Tests in SA
Ind win : 04
SA win : 12
Draw : 07
IND vs SA 1st Test Predicted Playing 11
India Predicted Playing 11: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Prasidh Krishna
South Africa Predicted Playing 11 : Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Gerald Coetzee, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Lungi Ngidi, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Kyle Verreynne (wk)