India v South Africa 4th Test Preview: Kotla likely to turn in India's favour

India v South Africa 4th Test Preview: Kotla likely to turn in India’s favour: The 72-day tour to India has reached its final leg, but the dust hasn’t settled down too well. Indian skipper Virat Kohli and the management faced a lot of flak due to the Nagpur surface while the visitors didn’t put much of an excuse and focussed on fine-tuning their batting skills on sub-continental conditions.

33 of the 40 wickets that fell were to spinners. South Africa, in their first innings, slumped to 12 for 5 and then 79 all out. For the records, not a single batsman was able to score a fifty, which was a first for a Test in India.

South Africa’s dream run in since 2006 came to an end after losing the first overseas Test series in nine years, but Kohli and team doesn’t look complacent even though the 4th Test can be tagged as a dead rubber.

India:

Everyone expected India to bounce back after losing the T20I and ODI series. And boy! didn’t they spell fire?

Murali Vijay has topped the batting chart with 195 runs from 5 innings at an average of 48.75 while India’s mainstay Cheteshwar Pujara has registered 160 runs from 4 innings with a best of 77. Skipper Kohli would like to do justice to a staggering career average of 43.36, as he managed only 68 runs so far in the Test outings against Amla’s men, at an average of 17.00.

Rohit Sharma may well retain his place in the side once again while Varun Aaron is likely to warm the bench at the capital city. Amit Mishra will select himself whereas Stuart Binny may well watch the encounter from the sidelines.

India’s bowling lineup doesn’t need to chart out any new plans, as the mantra will be to stick to the basics. Ravichandran Ashwin, who has picked up 3 fifers from 5 innings; will once again look to make early inroads and capitalise from the word go.

While Ravindra Jadeja will continue to play the second fiddle and complement the ace spinner. Amit Mishra’s wicket tally of 7 wickets from 4 innings echoes the word “quality over quantity”, and AB de Villiers will be desperate to tackle the leggie.

South Africa:

The visitors have their task cut out, Amla & Co. would want to make Kotla count. AB de Villiers is South Africa’s highest run-getter in the series so far, he has notched up 173 runs at an average of 34.60 with a couple of fifties. The likes of Faf du Plessis and Jean Paul Duminy will be desperate to be among runs while Stiaan Van Zyl would like to run over his best.

Imran Tahir and Simon Harmer have shared 22 wickets between them so far, and the focus will be on the duo to bail the visitors out. Morne Morkel has been impressive so far, picking up 6 wickets at an average of 12.83.

The African’s will need to counter Indian opener Murali Vijay in particular, as the right-hander has stroked some beautiful knocks in the little time on pitches that were considered “diabolic” by many.

Form:

South Africa: L D D W L

India: W W W L w

Pitch:

The Kotla wicket is expected to be a rank turner, and the spinners will be raring to grab the honours. The spin trio of Ashwin, Jadeja and Mishra will once again be a threat to deal with, whereas the likes of Tahir and Harmer will look to purchase some bounce and turn from the much talked about pitch.

Stats:

644/8 – West Indies registered the highest team score at Kotla against India in the Test series during 1958/59.

75 – India have the lowest team total at this ground against West Indies in the 1987/88 Test series.

230* – New Zealand’s B. Sutcliffe has the highest individual score on this ground against India in the 1955/56 Test series.

159 – CC Hunte and JKC Holt hold the record for the highest partnership against India during the 1958/59 Test series.

14/149 – India’s Anil Kumble has the best bowling figures in a match at this ground against Pakistan in the year 1999.

10/74 – Anil Kumble returned with a perfect ten in an innings against Pakistan at this ground in the year 1999.

Probable XI:

India:

Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma.