After the complete washout of the 2nd Test match in Bangalore, the two teams move to Nagpur, a busy, bustling city which is facing a draught right now – so no risk of it raining here. That’s a good thing, because we are guaranteed to have 5 days of Test cricket and there will be one team sure to come on top at the end of it.
India are 1-0 up with just 2 Tests to go, so a win in Nagpur will win them their second successive Test series – which means that young Virat Kohli will be off to a good start in his new job as the captain of the Indian Test team. Virat is already looking forward to the Nagpur Test.
Virat said in a press conference, “I played only one Test match here, it went well for me. [I showed] lots of patience, something that at that point in time was probably out of my character. It was something that I discovered about myself. I hope the wicket doesn’t play like that in this game because it ended up being a very boring Test match.”
There is no question that India are the absolute favorites to win the Test match in Nagpur and the clench the series. It is simply astonishing as to how things have changed after the ODIs, which were completely dominated by the South Africans. Test cricket, played on slow, turning pitches in India is a different kettle of fish altogether.
It is hoped that India play with three spinners in Nagpur. Indeed, any option is better than playing Stuart Binny, who is a unique player who cannot bat or bowl, but gets to play for India as an all-rounder. We don’t want to go into details about the reasons for that, but surely having his dad in the selection committee does help for Binny.
[table id=33 /]
South Africa will be without Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander, so the attack will be led by Morne Morkel. Morkel is a gentle giant, happy to be a sidekick to his mate Steyn, and who doesn’t really like being the leader of the attack. But that’s exactly what he has to be in Nagpur. He certainly has the talent, but does he have the temperament for such a role? We will see tomorrow, won’t we!
Hashim Amla, the South African skipper has struggled at No. 4. He said that he could return to No. 3, which is the position where he rose to become one of the greatest Test batsmen of his generation. Amla says, “When I took over the captaincy, one of the ideas was to give me a bit more time, especially when we fielded first, to bat at 4. But you never know. We’re a team in a little bit of transition, with a couple of new faces, so we’re still finding the perfect batting order. So yes, there’s no reason I couldn’t bat at 3 at some stage.”
South Africa will want their senior players Amla and Faf du Plessis to perform – their performance in this series has been quite pathetic so far. AB de Villiers cannot save his team every single time – AB could do with a little help from his senior teammates.
Indian batting is no great shakes either. Only Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ravindra Jadeja have lasted 100 balls in this series. We expect Rohit Sharma and Amit Mishra to play if the pitch looks really friendly to the spinners on the day of the match. Varun Aaron is likely to miss out, unfortunately.
The Teams
India: 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 M Vijay, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Amit Mishra, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Varun Aaron.
South Africa: 1 Dean Elgar, 2 Stiaan van Zyl, 3 Faf du Plessis, 4 Hashim Amla (capt), 5 AB de Villiers, 6 JP Duminy, 7 Dane Vilas (wk), 8 Simon Harmer/Dane Piedt, 9 Kagiso Rabada/Kyle Abbott, 10 Morne Morkel, 11 Imran Tahir.
Match Conditions
Fortunately, no rain has been forecast in Nagpur. In fact, it hasn’t rained here for months. The pitch should be the same as the one we saw in Mohali – a slow turner, perfect for the Indian spinners.
Watch India take on South Africa in the 3rd Test in Nagpur at 9:00 am from Wednesday to Sunday, live on Star Sports.
[table id=16 responsive=”tablet” /]
