The first test match between India and South Africa is going to start from tomorrow at the Wanderers, Johannesburg. It’s a vital test series for the Indian cricket team. They have already been outclassed by the South African side in the one day international matches on the tour and they can’t expect the test matches to be any easier. The South African test bowling line up is even more lethal.
India’s bowling has also been strengthened as one of their premier fast bowlers Zaheer Khan has come back into the side. However, he has not bowled at the international level since a while, so, one cannot expect him to start hitting the right lengths straightaway, but, his presence on the ground will certainly benefit the other Indian fast bowlers who are lacking experience.
The other player with whom India has big expectations in the test series is Cheteshwar Pujara. The 25 years old right hander has got a very tight defence and he is perhaps the most organized player in the Indian batting line up. He is good at playing with the horizontal bat and the biggest positive about him is that he doesn’t throw away the good starts. Once he gets in, he makes the bowling team work hard. He has already had 5 hundreds in his brief test career so far.
As far as South Africa is concerned, they have played some brilliant test cricket in the last few years. They have performed well against almost every team and they would like to continue their good work in this series as well. They would be making one change in their playing XI that had featured in the second test match against Pakistan in UAE. Hashim Amla would replace Dean Elgar.