Faf du Plessis is considering selecting five bowling options in the 1st Test against India on Wednesday.

A tough task lies ahead for the Proteas as they will aim to break a 6-year record of home series wins for India, having won their last 10 series on home soil.

The first test match between India and South Africa gets underway on Wednesday.

PREVIEW: INDIA VS SOUTH AFRICA 1ST TEST

The Proteas haven’t played test cricket since February/March but a lot of the players in the Test squad have had a lot of time to prepare for this series via the SA A tours and the rain-interrupted warm-up match against the BCCI Presidential XI.

Our last outing in whites saw us embarrassed by Sri Lanka at home in what was a series whitewash by the hosts.

To add on all of that, we start our Test Championship campaign against a very strong India side who are high in confidence after winning a Test series in the West Indies last month.

Faf du Plessis and his men know that this series will be a tough one and that a collaborative effort will bring them a step-closer to winning the series.

“We haven’t had Test cricket since February/March so there has been a gap of Test cricket. And we are coming to India… we know that obviously playing India in any conditions is tough but playing them at home is really tough but it’s a nice challenge for our young group.” said Du Plessis on Tuesday.

Amol Muzumdar’s impact in the side will hopefully be clear and positive, because we do need someone with his amount of knowledge about the local conditions, to ensure that the Proteas stand a chance against a tough opponent such as India.

“It’s been really refreshing having local knowledge in our dressing room. It’s just a different mindset, a different language and different chats that you not used to so it’s really refreshing no matter how many games you’ve played. So I have enjoyed his time with us, its been very short, but already some very good conversations.”

His inclusion as an interim batting coach will also enable Faf and Enoch Nkwe to come up with the best XI.

With three specialist spin-bowlers in the Proteas camp, it will be interesting to see how the Proteas will set-up their XI.

“You need more than three or four bowlers, so we are definitely looking at a combination of having five bowling options in our team to try and maximise getting 20 wickets.

“Conditions will change throughout the tour, so we will try and assess what we think is the best bowling unit that can get us 20 wickets.

“The last tour that we were here the ball spun quite a bit, and I think the bowler we have in Maharaj is just as good as any spinner around the world, so he would be just as much of a challenge for the India batsmen if the desk were to spin quite a bit.”

India have not lost a home series since 2013, the Proteas will be looking to break that record by landing the first punch in the series opener.

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