Test cricket will return to its pinnacle once November kicks in. There’s the Ashes, of course, pitting world cricket’s oldest rivals, England and Australia, with a piece of cricketing history up for grabs.
But before England face the Aussies in their backyard for a five-Test series, India will be hosting the defending world Test champions, South Africa, for two matches. South Africa last won a Test series in India way back in 2000, but Shubman Gill’s new India will be in for a stern challenge against Temba Bavuma’s Proteas.
South Africa is on an eight-match winning streak, ending their long, agonising wait for an ICC trophy when it defeated Australia at Lord’s in June. With India showing they can be vulnerable at home, losing to New Zealand 0-3 last year, they can’t afford to take South Africa lightly, despite not having lost to them on home soil in 25 years. With no Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma, Bavuma can’t wait to go toe-to-toe against Gill, who announced his arrival in style, drawing the series in England 2-2.
“It seems as if the new era has kicked in, if I could say. (The) guys like Rohit, (and) before him, Kohli, they’ve done their job. They put India really on their mat, and they’ve made India a team to really be feared. I’m sure India will continue to dominate. Our job as South Africa is to not allow them to dominate as much,” Bavuma said on the sidelines of the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards.
“(There is) new leadership for India. Myself, first time (I’ll be) captaining in Test cricket in India. There’s a lot of little sub-stories about it. It can really make the game a lot more beautiful.”
Bavuma expects turners in India… and can you blame him?
Then again, there’s a reason why India went 12 years without losing a Test series at home. In 2015/16, India drubbed South Africa 3-0 in a 4-Test series and completed a 2-0 whitewash in 2019 just after the World Cup. Bavuma is aware that when it’s home conditions, India will revert to their strength – spin. However, it has backfired in the past, and the skipper hopes his spinners might be able to join that bandwagon. If not, then he expects them to rise to the challenge.
“In terms of the surfaces in India, (they are) spinner-friendly. We won’t be in shock if we get to India and we’re playing on spinner-friendly wickets. Generally, teams now are always using their conditions to their favour, especially with the World Test Championship cycle and the way that it’s been set up, so we won’t be surprised from that point of view,” added.
“From my experience, there always seems to be a difference between the way Indian spinners bowl in their own conditions versus spinners outside of India. There’s always that challenge of foreign spinners adjusting to the conditions. They’re either bowling quicker in these conditions (or) bowling flatter.”
The current World Test Championship makes for interesting reading. India is third on the points table, behind Australia and Sri Lanka, although they have played double the number of matches as the table-toppers. Meanwhile, South Africa will get its campaign off the mark against the Indians.