India will lock horns against World Test champions South Africa at the iconic Eden Gardens, Kolkata from November 14 onwards. Shubman Gill’s team recently won the two-match Test series against the West Indies by 2-0 but there is no doubt that the Proteas will pose a different challenge altogether.
Eden Gardens curator Sujan Mukherjee has said that it is going to be a five-day wicket and the track will not turn abruptly. This goes to show that India have learned their lessons that playing on rank-turners was backfiring for them.
Meanwhile, there are still a lot of questions which need to be answered. Sai Sudharsan hasn’t yet nailed the number three position but he scored a promising 87 against the Windies at Delhi and assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate revealed that Dhruv Jurel could play alongside Rishabh Pant as a pure batter.
Once again, India’s spin quartet of Axar Patel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Kuldeep Yadav will be expected to do the bulk of the work. Kuldeep and Jadeja had starred against the West Indies and Gill will hope that the duo can replicate their performances.
On the other hand, South Africa’s spin bowling line-up will be led by left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, supported by off-spinner Simon Harmer and left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy. South Africa recently defeated Pakistan but India is going to be a more challenging assignment for Temba Bavuma’s team.
Head to Head: Matches: 44, Won by South Africa: 18, Won by India: 16, Drawn: 10
South Africa squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Tony de Zorzi, Zubayr Hamza, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne.
India Test squad: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (WK) (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash Deep
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