South Africa will lock horns against India in the second Test match at the Newlands, Cape Town from Wednesday. The Proteas won the opening game by a gargantuan margin of an innings and 32 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
India looked toothless with the ball as they conceded an above-par score of 408 runs after Dean Elgar scored a magnificent knock of 185 runs. For India, KL Rahul showed grit in the first innings, scoring a brilliant knock of 101 runs. But the visitors could not show any stomach for a fight in the second dig as they were folded for 131 runs.
Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah returned with impressive figures of 4-69 but he lacked support from the other end as none of the other bowlers could hit the right areas. Ergo, the visitors will want to come up with a collective show with the ball.
Ravindra Jadeja is expected to strengthen India’s batting whereas there can be more changes after Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna proved ineffective.
On the other hand, there were plenty of positives for the home team. Nandre Burger was right on the money in his debut game whereas David Bedingham and Marco Jansen scored valuable runs.
Kagiso Rabada was as always spot-on in favorable conditions, bagging a total of seven wickets. But Gerald Coetzee has been ruled out of the second Test after developing pelvic inflammation during the first Test. Furthermore, Dean Elgar will lead South Africa in the absence of Temba Bavuma, who suffered a hamstring injury while chasing the ball.
Match Prediction: After winning the opening Test comprehensively, South Africa will enter the second game as red-hot favorites against India.
India Test squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KS Bharat (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Avesh Khan, Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Prasidh Krishna.
South Africa Test squad: David Bedingham, Nandre Burger, Tony de Zorzi, Dean Elgar ©, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Tristan Stubbs and Kyle Verreynne, Zubayr Hamza.
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