South Africa v India, Test series: India's predicted squad

Virat Kohli’s India is on a stellar run across all formats of the game, but many believe the real Test awaits when they travel to some tricky countries. Talking about such destinations where the Indians have historically struggled to pull off any good results, South Africa is a name which will be mentioned at the top alongside Australia.

India never won a Test series either in Australia or South Africa, which explains how difficult life has been for them when they traveled there. Last time India went to the land of Proteas under the leadership of MS Dhoni, there came close to pulling off a result in the first Test, but eventually settled with a draw. They put on a good fight in the second Test but lost the game and the 2-match series 1-0.

The next calendar year for the Indian side will kick-start with a three-match Test series against the old foes, who have recently confirmed that Dale Steyn will be back in the hunt when this series commences. This will add more firepower to their fast bowling contingent, who will be launching more attacks with a stronger venom.

Pandya set to comeback; Cold shoulder for Kuldeep?

The selection panel lead by MSK Prasad will be announcing the Test squad for the tour on Monday (27th November) and some surprising ommisions are set to take place in the comeback. Tracks in South Africa will be providing a lot of assistance to the fast bowlers, which might mean India will get onboard with only two spinners.

Kuldeep Yadav might be at the receiving end of a very harsh sacking, but he has to take this one for the team. He might eventually feature in the ODI scheme of things and a similar thing will be happening with Vijay Shankar, who might be making way for Hardik Pandya.

It’ll be interesting to see who will be making it to the XI between KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, and Shikhar Dhawan, as only two of these openers can make a cut. All these gentlemen have been amongst the runs, creating an innocuous quandary for the selectors and the skipper. Pujara, Rahane, and skipper Kohli will definitely make it the fifteen man squad and no special mentioning is required here.

Rohit Sharma and Hardik Pandya will be on the flight as well alongside two spinners, Ashwin and Jadeja. Wriddhiman Saha has proven himself to be the rightful heir to MS Dhoni in terms of wicket-keeping abilities, but not as much when it comes to batting. Nevertheless, the batting order looks solid enough on paper and it’ll be interesting to see how they’ll adapt and reciprocate to those conditions.

India might be heading with four primetime fast bowlers. Mohammad Shami and Bhuvneshwar Kumar paired up brilliantly in the first Test against Sri Lanka and though Umesh Yadav hasn’t been at his best, he is likely to be present in the squad. Ishant Sharma too might make a cut, which gives Kohli a decent bench strength.

Here’s the predicted Indian squad for this all important tour.

Probable Squad: Virat Kohli (C), Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Hardik Pandya, Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Ishant Sharma