Centurion: From being a team which hardly bent a knee in Test cricket in the last two years, India now face a do-or-die situation when they lock horns with South Africa at the Supersport Park in Centurion on Saturday.
India’s batting woes in overseas conditions continued as they were left decimated by a depleted South African bowling unit, in the first test played in Cape Town. Virat Kohli and his men were completely taken aback by the pace and bounce of the wicket and they failed to chase down a gettable total of 208 to go 1-0 up in the series. Instead, they conceded the lead and now, face the prospect of an away series loss.
From the Ajinkya Rahane-Rohit Sharma conundrum to explaining the batting collapse-skipper Kohli has had to answer a lot of questions, but the 29-year-old feels that all boils down to mental preparation in case of playing on tracks that offer pace and bounce.
“One must not get surprised by the bounce here. There are other pitches that bounce around the world as well. But here bounce can be steep and it can be quite steep from length. Those are things you have to mentally tune yourself to get over and accept that this is going to be the major part of batting in South Africa,” Kohli said, ahead of the second test match.
Things however are much more easier in the South African camp. Having taken a 1-0 lead in the three-match series, Faf Du Plessis and his men would be the odds-on favourites to win the second Test as well. But the skipper feels that his team shouldn’t rely on the 1-0 lead and instead ensure that they don’t take a, “step back” when the top two Test sides clash in Centurion.
“I expect another huge performance from them. They are a remarkably strong team and for us, it’s making sure that we don’t take a step back and rely on a 1-0 lead. If you do that against a strong team like India, they’ll pounce on us,” said Du Plessis.
Inevitable as it is, the Indian team might see a few changes in the second match. Karnataka batsman KL Rahul, who has scored three of his four Test centuries away from home has batted more than the left-handed Shikhar Dhawan in the nets and might just replace him in the playing XI. Rohit Sharma, despite his failure in both the innings in Cape Town is unlikely to be dropped and hence if Rahane has to be brought in, it is likely to happen at the cost of Ravichandran Ashwin. Also the bowling department might see some changes as Ishant Sharma, whose bowling would suit the Centurion track might make a comeback and would replace either Bhuvneshwar Kumar or Jasprit Bumrah. Hardik Pandya’s all-round performances in the first Test was one of the positives for India and his team would hope that he continues in the same vein in the must-win encounter.
There’s one injury-enforced change in the Proteas line-up as it is very likely that Dale Steyn would now be replaced by all-rounder Chris Morris. Not only a threatening bowler on a green track, Morris’ abilities with the bat would be a welcome addition to the host’s batting line-up which folded for just 130 in the second innings, after being dismissed for 286 in the first.
For the record, the last five-first innings totals in this ground are 409, 397, 552, 475 and 481 and the team that has batted first has won all these matches. Hence, the toss would be vital for India who, for a change might look to put some runs on the board this time and depend on their bowling to do the rest of the job.
Statistically, Hashim Amla with 1202 runs (average-80.13) and AB De Villiers with 1157 runs with an average of 60.89 have had a great time in Centurion so far. However, skipper Du Plessis and opener Dean Elgar have a poor record to show with averages of 33.00 and 14.00 in the respective four and three Test matches they’ve played at the venue.
Having dominated sides like England and Australia at home, India’s claim to be the best in Tests have now been met with a lot of questions. On the other hand, the Proteas would look to continue doing the good work they’ve done to ensure that the series remains a one-sided affair. Will Virat Kohli and co bounce back? Or will Du Plessis’ team take away the honours again? An interesting contest is on the cards.
Probable playing XI (India): Murali Vijay, KL Rahul/Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma, R Ashwin/Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha/Parthiv Patel (wk), Hardik Pandya, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma/Jasprit Bumrah
Probable playing XI (South Africa): Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis (c), Quinton de Kock (wk), Vernon Philander, Chris Morris, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel.
Match to begin at 1:30 pm IST and will be telecasted on Sony Ten 1 and Sony Ten 1 HD