The last time South Africa were in India, they had the great AB de Villiers. They didn’t have the legendary Dale Steyn, of course, as he was injured. But they did have his loyal partner-in-arms Morne Morkel.
And yes, they had a young Kagiso Rabada firing away at the Indian batsmen. The most impressive young fast bowler in the world at that time. They had a young and untested Lungi Ngidi as well, who put up a match winning performance in his very first Test.
They had Hashim Amla too. Amla was the quiet one while ABD got the crowd worked up. He was a perfect foil to de Villiers, holding anchor while the latter blasted away at the opposition bowling. From the statistical perspective, Amla was even more successful than ABD.
That was a powerful South African team. But 4 years have passed since then. Lot has happened. AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla have both retired from international cricket, leaving a massive hole in the Proteas batting line-up.
The bowling attack has been emasculated by the retirements of Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel, two old warriors who held them together for over a decade. What does that leave us with?
Faf du Plessis is still there, looking as fit as ever. But he was always more of a sidekick to ABD and Amla than a matchwinner on his own. You really can’t expect much from him now.
Quinton de Kock is their main batsman now and he is definitely very talented. He also seems to have a liking for Indian bowling attacks, and we expect him to have a phenomenal series with the bat, regardless of how the rest of the team does.
South Africa have a bunch of talented young batsmen like Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar, Theunis de Bruyn and Temba Bavuma, but none of them have really lived up to their potential. This India series could be their chance to rise to the top and establish a permanent position in the side.
As for India, they already have tried Rohit Sharma in the opening slot and with flying results – yes, we are into the third day of the 1st Test at Vishakapatnam at the time of this writing.
Rohit gets his final chance at Test cricket, and will play as an opening batsman, and not in his usual middle order slot for as long as he is around. That is good, one would any day trust Rohit Sharma over the likes of KL Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan.
Really, Rohit has not been given as many chances as he deserves, compared to say, Rahul. Rishabh Pant is also out after a series of disappointing performances with the bat. The ever-reliable wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha is back, after more than 22 months of non-action. Rest of the line-up is well settled.
India: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Mayank Agarwal, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Hanuma Vihari, 7 Wriddhiman Saha (wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Ravindra Jadeja, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Mohammed Shami
South Africa: 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Dean Elgar, 3 Theunis de Bruyn, 4 Faf du Plessis (capt), 5 Temba Bavuma, 6 Quinton de Kock (wk), 7 Vernon Philander, 8 Keshav Maharaj, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Lungi Ngidi/Anrich Nortje/Senuran Muthusamy, 11 Dane Piedt
Prediction: India to win 3-0. Yes, that’s a big thing to say, but on paper at least, India looks far too strong for this inexperienced South African outfit. And they are playing at home, so you know what’s going to happen!
