India shall be taking on South Africa in the first of the three match Test series in Newlands, Cape Town on Friday. High on confidence, the Virat Kohli brigade aims to end the 25 year old long jinx of not winning a Test series on South African soil. The match is scheduled to commence at 2 pm IST.
The Indian team would go into the series with a plethora of confidence after ending the year as the Number One side in Test cricket. India had a stellar run in 2017 winning six consecutive bilateral series at home and remaining unbeaten for the entire season.
The team has the arsenal to deliver the good with firepower both in batting and bowling.The batting looks in good hand with a stable opening pair and formidable middle order.
While Vijay and Dhawan shall provide the opening salvo, the middle order shall be spearheaded by Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane. Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja shall resume the spin duties while the pace attack has plenty of venom with Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami and Umesh Yadav.
Cricket pundits have hailed this Indian side as the most potent team to ever tour the African shores. Meanwhile South Africa would be keen on regaining the number one spot from India. The African team would be bolstered by the return of two of their greats in AB De Villiers and Dale Steyn.
The Proteas shall be led by Faf Du Plessis who gets back into team after nursing an injury. The South African attack is perhaps the most lethal in the world at the moment.The combination of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Veron Philander and can wreck apart the best of batting orders.
The Proteas batting would revolve around their run scoring machine Hashim Amla and AB De Villiers. Meanwhile skipper Faf Du Plessis and Quinton De Cock would lend depth to the middle order.
So the clash of the Test heavyweights shall unfold later on when the two teams take to park at Newlands, Cape Town.