South Africa vs India, 3rd Test – India Predicted XI

What do you do when you’re two-nil down in a three-match Test series? Chop and change the XI, that’s what most armchair analysts would suggest. But a team despite the immediate performance factor demands stability. Players need to be given chances, the experience of playing in testing conditions and then be backed to come good.

No Indian team in the history has travelled to South Africa with expectations as high as they were from Virat Kohli & Co. They are the No.1 ranked team, possess a pace attack that challenged the Proteas at every possible juncture and even had them pinned on the wall. But the batsmen failed to rise to the call and that has been the reason for the team’s downfall.

The wicket at the Wanderers is the fastest in South Africa which prompts at least a few changes in the playing XI and knowing Virat, the skipper, he doesn’t go into two games with the same combination. That said, here is the predicted XI Team India is expected to field for the 3rd Test in Johannesburg.

Openers (Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay)

Shikhar Dhawan isn’t the best they have in terms of technique and ability to negotiate the new ball, but he is effective. He scores his runs with a positive intent and that gives the team a thrust early on. He played the first Test returned with identical 16s in both the innings and was dropped.

But KL Rahul who did no better in Centurion injured himself and has been ruled out of the game and Dhawan returns to the top. Unless Team India either prefer to open with Ajinkya Rahane or Cheteshwar Pujara. Surprised? Well, Virat always dishes out surprises with his team selection.

A lot relied on Murali Vijay. He is the monk. He was supposed to bat through the initial burst from the pacers. Tier them out. See through the new ball. We’d seen him do that on the last tour to South Africa, but he hasn’t been his self this time. He has flirted with the balls way outside his off-stump and attempted shots he isn’t known for playing. Hence 1, 13, 46 and 9 have been his returns.

Middle Order (Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Parthiv Patel)

Cheteshwar Pujara, the one player who walks into the Indian Test XI irrespective of the opponents, conditions and to an extent “current form”. Scores of 26, 4, 0 and 19 from the No.3 tell you exactly what’s wrong with the team. He hasn’t been able to pull them out of the shock of early blows. Being run out twice in a Test is as bizarre as it sounds. Pujara is either trying a bit too hard to get those runs or isn’t sure of another way to get them and that has forced him to put his wicket on the line for just 1 run.

Virat Kohli was the saving grace for India in Centurion if there was any. He scored a magnificent 153 in the first innings and took the team towards a score close to the South African total, but in the second inning when it mattered more the skipper failed. He followed up the big hundred with a knock worth five and the team bundled out soon after his dismissal. What he needs to do is bat through and if he manages that, only then they will be in a position to put up a fight.

Yes, I include Ajinkya Rahane in the XI. A sigh of relief? He is the most talked about player on the entire tour despite playing no cricket. Rahane is the best bet in the middle order in terms of technique and application against the moving ball we know it all, but the management wasn’t certain if he’d give them the value they wanted from their No.5 batsman and hence he was on the bench. Rohit Sharma who was backed instead did make a case for his place with a 47 in the second innings in Centurion but that had little impact except reducing the margin of defeat. Rahane still walks in.

Ahead of the 2nd Test, it was suggested that Parthiv Patel would make it to the Indian team on batting merit and though he did play the game, was because Wriddhiman Saha hurt himself enough to be ruled out of the tour. He didn’t score a lot of runs; a couple of 19s don’t really count in a Test match. Whereas he was disappointing behind the wickets, letting one pop out of his webbing, not committing to another couple of catches and grassed one that Saha would’ve bagged without second thoughts.

Though the team has Dinesh Karthik as another keeper in the lineup just one match wouldn’t probably seal Patel’s fate. Or would it?

All-rounder (Hardik Pandya)

He is flamboyant, he isn’t bogged down by intimidation, doesn’t respond if the batsmen go after him but Hardik Pandya certainly needs to get the basics right. The Indian team was in a position where they should’ve ideally obtained a lead in the first inning of the second Test but he was in another world and didn’t ground his bat. Some have called him lazy, others complacent but everyone admits he needs to tighten up. That wicket changed the dynamics of the innings and with that of the match.

He scored a 93 in the first match and has picked three wickets but Pandya needs to do much better with his overall presence than that to be the X-factor for this team.

Bowlers (Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma/Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami)

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was surprisingly out of the team in the previous match and should be back in Johannesburg. He was India’s best bowler in the Cape Town Test and he was the one who created opportunities and picked three early wickets but for some reason, the Indian team again believed he needed assistive conditions to be effective and rested him for Ishant Sharma.

Jasprit Bumrah has done enough to keep his place in the team, he made his Test debut on this tour and has picked 7 wickets in the two matches. Bumrah is a quick learner and is gradually understanding what exactly is the line and length he is supposed to bowl in this format of the game in those conditions and against a batting line-up that knows them better.

If India decide to go in with an all-pace attack which is likely then Ishant Sharma will be preferred. Otherwise, Ashwin with his bowling as well as batting has been the most reliable player for this team. He has scalped 7 wickets in the series thus far, not many expected a spinner to come into the scene in South Africa but he has bowled really well as bounce has been on offer. With the bat, Ashwin has responded with a couple of 30s and that’s what you expect from the lower order batsman.

Mohammed Shami has been hot and cold. He has bowled some exceptional spells and has been flat at occasions. Ideally, it has taken him a whole innings to understand the pitch and get his line and length in place. In the second innings, he has returned much better and delivered. Shami has the most wickets amongst Indians – 9 and the team would now want him to get going from the onset.

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