Proteas face stern India challenge in next leg of WTC title defence

South Africa will have just three full days to practice and prepare for the next leg of their World Test Championship title defence when they tackle the mighty India in the first of two tests beginning at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday.

Fortunately, playing good test cricket without warm-up matches and with minimal training time was a hallmark of the Proteas' last campaign.

Only the most fervent optimists will believe the tourists can repeat the 2-0 victory they achieved the first time they played a two-test series in India just over 25 years ago, but victory against Pakistan in Rawalpindi to level that series at 1-1 last month means they landed in Kolkata full of belief.

If, as they expect, the Proteas are required to play in conditions prepared to suit their strengths – on spinning pitches – they are probably better armed than at any time in their post-isolation history. Keshav Maharaj is the country’s all-time leading wicket-taker among spinners and, as they proved in Pakistan, Simon Harmer and Senuran Muthusamy are very much more than support acts.

And if the Indian team hierarchy do decide to “go more conventional” with their pitches, as head coach Shukri Conrad said when announcing the squad, “then we have more than enough in the seam bowling ranks”.

Indeed, Kagiso Rabada is one of the all-time great fast bowlers while Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder and Corbin Bosch also add batting depth to their impressive bowling records.

India’s top order batting is impressive enough to border on intimidating, but only for non-playing observers. The cricketers will be reminding themselves and each other that cricket is a game between bat and ball, not reputations.

Averages and centuries are the conventional yardstick, but not the only ones. Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram aside, the tourists’ top order have hardly played enough to provide a meaningful sample size.

India have a settled opening pair in steady veteran KL Rahul and the outrageously talented Yashasvi Jaiswal, who boasts an eye-popping seven centuries in just 26 tests and the only average over 50 in either squad.

Rishabh Pant is among the rarest of batsmen able to turn the tide of a test single-handedly, especially in tricky conditions, and Ravindra Jadeja’s record confirms his place among the greatest allrounders to have played the game, whatever the sceptics may say. Especially in Indian conditions.

For the Proteas to have a chance of becoming the first team to successfully defend the WTC mace, one victory in India may be essential. They don’t play test cricket again until the beginning of next summer when Bangladesh visit South Africa for two tests followed by three matches each against England and Australia. The cycle concludes with two more tests in Sri Lanka.

Nine victories from those 14 tests will almost certainly be good enough to secure a place in another final. Supporters will no doubt have their theories about where those wins will come from.

Will England still be ‘bazballing’ under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes? How different might the Australian team look after the Ashes with Mitchell Starc, Steve Smith, Nathan Lyon, Usman Khawaja and Josh Hazlewood all hovering on or well above the 35-year-old threshold?

ITINERARY:

1st test – Eden Gardens, Kolkata: 14-18 November 14-18

2nd test – Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati: 22-26 November

SQUADS:

South Africa: Temba Bavuma (captain), Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, Zubayr Hamza, Kyle Verreynne, Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Senuran Muthusamy, Keshav Maharaj, Corbin Bosch, Simon Harmer, Kagiso Rabada.

India: Shubman Gill (captain), KL Rahul, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudharsan, Rishabh Pant (wkt), Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Devdutt Padikkal, Axar Patel, Mohammad Siraj, Akash Deep, Kuldeep Yadav.