Khalid Mohidin previews the 1st Test between South Africa and India at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
Setting the scene:
It’s the start of the Test Championship for South Africa as they aim to kick off their new era.
The retirements of Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn means that new recruits need to step up and become the next Proteas superstars.
Anrich Nortje, Senuran Muthasamy and Dane Piedt have been added to the Test squad, a young squad that will have a lot of pressure on them to form in conditions that have troubled the visitors in the past.
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Du Plessis, however, has faith that his young players will step up and that the pressure will bring out the best in himself and his team.
How the Proteas will lineup will be interesting. Do they play all their seamers? Or do they opt for an extra batsman? Playing an extra spinner is a no brainer considering the spinning tracks that are expected to be prepared.
The decisions made regarding the batting lineup should be dependent on their best players of spin.
One thing is for sure, there could be e a major shakeup in the team selection.
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Team selection:
Decisions, decisions. Who do the Proteas start in the first Test? How do you pick a team to combat India conditions when the majority of your squad have never played a Test in India?
With regards to the batting lineup, the Proteas will find it hard to leave out Theunis de Bruyn and Temba Bavuma, who were the only two batsmen worth talking about in their last trip to the subcontinent against Sri Lanka.
If you go on stats and drop the worst player based on that, it will have to be Dean Elgar who since his big year in 2017 which saw him average 53.71 having scored 1,128 in 12 matches, drop to an average of 36.72 in 2018 scoring 661 runs in 10 games and then 13.85 in 2019 after four games.
Elgar’s record in Asia is under par too, scoring at an average of 24.29 in 11 games. Despite this, there is no doubt that he is a quality player and there is no opener replacement for him in the squad.
Zubayr Hamza had an average SA A tour with the high score of 44, but he does have the ability to handle spin and the question would be who does he come in for? Playing an extra batsman would be tempting but that would mean either dropping a seamer or the second spinner. I would love to see Hamza play, but I doubt that thee Proteas’ brains trust are brave enough to select him for the opening game.
The second spinner is vital based on the expected conditions in India.
Writer’s Proteas XI:
1 Aiden Markram
2 Dean Elgar
3 Theunis de Bruyn
4 Temba Bavuma
5 Faf du Plessis (c)
6 Quinton de Kock
7 Vernon Philander
8 Dane Piedt
9 Kagiso Rabada
10 Keshav Maharaj
11 Lungi Ngidi
India predicted XI for 1st Test:
1 Virat Kohli (c)
2 Ajinkya Rahane
3 Rohit Sharma
4 Mayank Agarwal
5 Cheteshwar Pujara
6 Hanuma Vihari
7 Ravichandran Ashwin
8 Ravindra Jadeja
9 Wriddhiman Saha (wk)
10 Ishant Sharma
11 Mohammed Shami
The first Test starts on Wednesday at 6:00 am SAST at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
Photo: Samuel Shivambu/BackpagePix
