It has been 31 years since an Indian cricket team first landed in South Africa to play Test cricket, and not once has any of the touring sides managed to win a series there. Eight tours between 1992 and 2022 have resulted in seven series defeats and one drawn contest, and heading into this month’s first of two Tests between the teams, the weight of history looms over Rohit Sharma’s men.

Over the past 13 years, on several occasions India have pushed South Africa in their own backyard without the result going their way. The challenge in a two-match series is that if you happen to lose the first Test, there is no way you can win the series. By that token, this Indian team has to grab every opportunity that comes their way in the series opener, just as they did two years ago to head into 2022 with a rare 1-0 advantage.

That series, however, ended up 2-1 in South Africa’s favour. And that series is, unfortunately, remembered more for then skipper Virat Kohli’s unnecessary dig at the host broadcaster over the stump mic, and subsequent accusations from vice-captain KL Rahul and lead spinner Ravichandran Ashwin against SuperSport for influencing the DRS.

This time around, South Africa host India at Centurion in the opening Test starting on Boxing Day, before the series shifts to Cape Town for the second match from January 3. India’s past three visits to SuperSport Park have resulted in two defeats and a famous win, in the previous Boxing Day Test, before the next two fixtures were lost. This time around, with several personnel changes and a shortened series, hitting the ground hard is imperative for Rohit and his team.

Kohli is back from a quick trip to India, but minus the experienced Mohammed Shami and the maverick wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant this team is missing vital overseas performers. Shami’s absence opens up a spot for a third pacer in either the uncapped Prasidh Krishna or Mukesh Kumar, who made his Test debut in the West Indies this year, unless the team management opts for the overseas specialist allrounder, Shardul Thakur, who in 2022 earned himself the best figures by an Indian bowler in South Africa.

The previous Test match the team played at Centurion, Ashwin was the sole spinner along with four pace options. This time around, at least for the Boxing Day Test, two spin-bowling allrounders look likely given that Ravindra Jadeja’s batting adds plenty of value and Ashwin’s experience – he is 11 wickets shy of 500 – cannot be overlooked.

Rahul and Shreyas Iyer are returning to Test cricket for the first time since March, and the pair of Shubman Gill and Yashaswi Jaiswal are playing for the first time in South Africa. For an Indian team moving on from Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane, getting consistent performances out of Gill, who batted at one-down in the West Indies, and Iyer at No 5 is imperative. Iyer averages 44 after 10 Tests, with one century and five fifties, but has only once played outside Asia. His short-ball problems remain, no matter what Iyer said during the World Cup at home, and the South African quicks will go hard at him.

This is the first Test series in which Rahul has been designated as wicketkeeper, so how he manages the additional workload promises to be a major viewpoint given that five Tests lie ahead against England early next year.

South Africa are the only team to not play a match yet in the 2023-2025 World Test Championship cycle, and like India the hosts too have some fringe players hoping to make a mark. Temba Bavuma and Kagiso Rabada are available after sitting out the ODIs, while the pace trio of Lungi Ngidi, Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee are all included after taking a break after the first two T20Is against India to play for their franchises in domestic four-day cricket.

The Test squad includes three uncapped names in batsmen David Bedingham and Tristab Stubbs and left-arm quick Nandre Burger who impressed during the recent ODI leg of the series.

South Africa will bid farewell to their long-serving Test opener and former captain Deal Elgar after this series. The 36-year-old led the Proteas in 17 of his 84 Test matches, and so far, has amassed 5146 runs at an average of 37.28, including 13 hundreds with a best of 199. Elgar was in charge when South Africa hit back from being down a Test in December 2021 to beating India 2-1 in January 2022.

India possible XI: 1 Rohit Sharma (capt), 2 Yashaswi Jaiswal, 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 Shreyas Iyer, 6 KL Rahul (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 10 Prasidh Krishna, 11 Mohammed Siraj