JOIN USTrial by fire for Kohli's India
The four-Test series between India and South Africa is a first of sorts in more ways than one, and perhaps with the exception of the contest against Australia in 2001, no Test duel has generated as much interest in the past decade or so.
To begin with this, is the first time that Virat Kohli, who will turn 27 on Thursday when the first Test kicks off here at the PCA Stadium, will be leading the team in India. This is the first time South Africa will be playing more than three Tests in India while this also being their first visit to the country since becoming the No 1 Test nation in August 2012. India are playing a Test match at home for the first time in two years, their last being the one against the West Indies in Mumbai in November 2013.
The series against the Caribbean side was Sachin Tendulkar’s farewell series as well, and in what marks a complete generational shift in batting, Kohli and company will take the field for the first time on home soil without any of the famed quintet – Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly and Tendulkar.
Not unlike Steve Waugh’s men who were coming on the back of a 16-Test winning spree in 2001 only to see their cloak of invincibility torn apart by a Ganguly-led India in the epochal Kolkata Test, South Africa arrive in India with a reputation to maintain and a record to set straight. The Proteas have been at the top of the Test rankings for more than three years now but even more significant is the fact that they have been unbeaten for nine years on the road. In these nine years, only in two places have they not won a series – one was in the UAE and the other India. Their last two visits to India have ended in stalemates.
While there are no ‘last frontier’ proclamations this time, South Africa realise the significance of a series win in India. And notwithstanding the talks that the pitches are going to assist spinners, South Africa will be favourites against this young Indian side. They have the attack to overcome conditions that are not conducive to their type of bowling while time and again their batsmen have shown they have the technique and the temperament to succeed in foreign environs.
Skipper Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis form the fulcrum of their batting even as a clutch of batsmen are set to make their India debuts. JP Duminy’s absence for the opener will deny visitors not only an experienced hand in the middle-order but a good spinning option as well. With Morne Morkel set to go through a fitness test on the match-day morning, South Africa do have some issues in getting the right combination. And despite all the talk of turning tracks, South Africa are unlikely to deviate from their three-pacer policy while it remains to be seen who among leggie Imran Tahir and offie Simon Harper gets the lone specialist spinner’s slot.
India appear almost sorted so far as their combination is concerned. If one were to go by Kohli’s assertions on match eve, it’s clear the home team will go with five bowlers and three of them will be spinners – R Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja, the last mentioned also expected to do get some runs. With Ishant Sharma serving a one-Test ban, Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron will share the new ball on a pitch that is expected to break sooner rather than later.
The batting slots too are settled though there is a bit of a predicament over Cheteshwar Pujara. Shikhar Dhawan and M Vijay will be back at the top of the tree after their injury-enforced break during the Lankan series. Pujara, who came up with a scintillating hundred in the final Test against Sri Lanka while opening the innings, is in direct race with Rohit Sharma for a place in the middle-order. Kohli of course is to the Indian team what de Villiers is to South Africa but Ajinkya Rahane, playing only his second Test at home, may just be the game-changer as he has been proving in the last couple of years.