Fierce South Africa wander into the den of subcontinent's giants

ICC World Test Championship

Test cricket is back to Kolkata. The historic venue which last hosted Test cricket back in 2019, will be the at the helm of affairs when visitors South Africa, the current WTC champions take on hosts India. The Freedom trophy is currently held by the Africans on virtue of a series win in 2021-22 and a 1-1 draw in 2023-24. This will be the first time they will be visiting India after 2019 when they were completely annihilated 3-0 under Virat Kohli's leadership. Since then India has travelled the other way twice on the aforementioned occasions.

However, the air in the African camp this time around is different. Temba Bavuma and his men are currently holding the champions tag of the World Test Championship after a win for the ages against Australia at the Lord's cricket stadium in June this year. There is a sense of silent confidence among the African players after their 1-1 result against Pakistan last month on tough turning wickets. Their batters and bowlers both combined beautifully to stun Pakistan after being in a precarious position at Rawalpindi.

Bavuma was not part of that series. He made his comeback from a left calf strain injury in the recent 4-day game against India A. Temba as captain has been on a dream run. He is unbeaten in all 10 Tests, winning 9 of them. South Africa will be seeking inspiration from their captain and his tactical brilliance to record a to achieve their first Test series win in India since 1999-2000. The combination of Shukri Conrad's smart strategies coupled with the skipper's execution on the field will pose another tough challenge for the hosts after the 3-0 defeat at the hands of New Zealand at home last year. 

The South African strategy of picking specialist players for different conditions has already shown remarkable results in the last WTC cycle where they had nine different century makers for the team. Recent Test results in the subcontinent which include a 2-0 win over Bangladesh last year and the 1-1 draw against Pakistan last month also shows significant progress of their spin-playing technique. Tony de Zorzi's century and POTS Senuran Muthusamy's excellent 89* in Pakistan are recent examples.

The Eden Gardens pitch however might not be the best suited for spinners. The last time India faced Bangladesh in a pink-ball Test, the Indian pacers took all the opposition wickets. In the last three Tests here, 85 wickets have fallen to pace bowlers at an average of 20.2 versus only 18 to spinners @ 38.33. Kabiso Rabada and co will be licking their lips.

The Indian squad are fresh from a comfortable 2-0 drubbing of West Indies at home following a hard-fought 2-2 draw in English conditions. Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep are three fast bowlers in the squad along with three finger-spinning all-rounders and Kuldeep Yadav. On the batting front, Dhruv Jurel's strong First class form which include 4 centuries in the last eight innings has cemented his spot in the XI along with the returning Rishabh Pant who missed the home tests against West Indies after injuring his foot trying to reverse sweep a Chris Woakes' yorker in England. The batters are in brilliant form which has seen them score 17 centuries already in the seven Tests they have played in this cycle with captain Shubman Gill alone scoring 5 of them. The only toss-up might be between Kuldeep Yadav and Akash Deep in case India opt to play three seamers in helpful conditions however with the pitch expected to take turn from Day 3 and Kuldeep's current form, they will be looking to stick with him.
 
On the other hand South Africa will be looking to play both Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj with Senuran Muthusamy capping the all-round role. Temba will replace Brevis at No.5 so it remains to be seen if they stick with Stubbs at 3 over Mulder or play both of them over Marco Jansen.

The conditions in Kolkata are expected to provide a whole game without any rain interruptions. There will be early moisture in the pitch which will aid the fast bowlers but if players are able to see off the new ball, scoring will get easier. There is also a reverse swing factor looming around. The pitch is expected to take turn from on Day 3 and Day 4. 

References : ESPNCricinfo, Statsguru by ESPNCricinfo

By Shekhar Tomar

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