India-South Africa Kolkata Test. (Photo-Getty)
The two-match test series between India and South Africa is about to begin. The first match of the series between the two teams will be played from tomorrow at the historic Eden Garden Stadium in Kolkata. Under the captaincy of Shubman Gill, the Indian Test team will play a Test series at home for the second time. In the last Test series, India had defeated the weak West Indies team 2-0. But this time it will face World Test Champion South Africa, whom it will not be easy for Gill’s team to defeat.
15 years of reign at stake
The biggest challenge for Shubman Gill in this series will be to defeat a strong team like South Africa and the 15-year-long dominance will also be at stake. In fact, the African team has not been able to win any test match on Indian soil for the last 15 years. In such a situation, the responsibility of maintaining this record will be on Gill. South Africa last won a Test match in India in 2010. Since then, Team India has been dominating.
Spinners will test Indian batsmen
In this series, Team India will be tested against the spinners. Africa is generally known for good fast bowlers. But this time their team includes many star spinners, who can trouble Team India. Recently, South Africa’s spinners played brilliantly against Pakistan. In this, Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer and Senuran Muthuswamy took 35 out of 39 wickets, which is a big threat for Team India.
head to head record
So far 44 test matches have been played between India and South Africa. Out of these, 18 matches have been won by the South African team and 16 matches have been won by India. At the same time, both the teams have faced each other in Tests 19 times in India. Out of these, Team India has won 11 matches and South Africa has won only 5 matches. Three test matches have been drawn. On the other hand, India has played a total of 3 test matches against South Africa in Kolkata. Out of these, 2 matches have been in the name of India and in 1, South Africa has won.
squads of both teams
India: Shubman Gill (captain), KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudarshan, Rishabh Pant, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Devdutt Padikkal.
South Africa: Temba Bavuma (captain), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brewis, Tony De Jorzi, Zubair Hamza, Simon Harmer, Marco Janson, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne.