IND vs SA : 2nd Test Preview

The mighty Indian test team continued their winning streak and breached yet another “fortress” when they defeated the Proteas at Centurion. Indian bowlers were superb as they bundled out South Africa under 200 in both their innings which helped India to win the game by 113 runs.

KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal played really well putting up a 117 run-opening stand in the first innings which was the first step of India’s domination in the game. Mayank got out after scoring 60 while Rahul went on to score a brilliant 123 runs in the first innings. Virat Kohli looked in really good touch in his brief stay of 35 runs. Ajinkya Rahane too looked good before he got out for 48 in the first innings. Cheteshwar Pujara’s poor form continued as he got on the first ball in the first innings while scoring only 16 in the second.

Indian pace battery was the star of the game particularly Mohammad Shami who picked 5 wickets in the first and total 8 wickets in the match. Jasprit Bumrah picked 5 wickets in the game and all of them were at a very crucial time. Mohammad Siraj and Shardul Thakur too bowled well. India will back their pacers to replicate this performance in the second game as well.

 

South Africa are in all sorts of trouble as they are already trailing behind in the series while Quinton de Kock announced his immediate retirement from the long format. They are already without Anrich Nortje who is out due to injury.

Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, and Marco Jansen were excellent with the ball. Ngidi picked 6 wickets in the first innings. Rabada and Jansen picked 4 wickets each in the second innings.

The African pace attack will strengthen with the return of Duanne Olivier but it’s their batters who need to step-up. Aiden Markram failed miserably in both the innings scoring 13 and 1 respectively. Temba Bavuma showed resilience throughout, scoring a half-century in the first with an unbeaten 2nd innings. Proteas have quite a few areas to improve on especially in their batting and it will be very tough for them against this Indian pace attack.

Probable Playing 11

India

India won the first game in a dominating manner and there are expected to go with the same eleven in this test match as well.

Probable 11: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (wk), Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Mohammad Siraj.
 

South Africa

With Quinton de Kock out and Duanne Olivier set to return in the eleven, South Africa will have a tricky situation in whether to go with an all pacer bowling attack or replace one of Mulder or Jansen for Olivier with Maharaj as the spinner.

Probable 11: Dean Elgar (c), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Kyle Verreynne(wk), Marc Jansen/Wiaan Mulder, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Duanne Olivier
 

Pitch Report

The pitch is expected to have bounce and swing which will assist the pacers. Batting will be difficult initially. Rain is forecasted on four days of the test match. Scores of around 250-300 are expected on this pitch.

Head to Head

Overall: IND - 15, SA - 15
In SA: IND - 4, SA - 10
At Johannesburg: IND - 2, SA - 0
Under VK's Captaincy: IND - 8, SA - 2
 

Match Ups

India
Kohli vs Ngidi: 59 runs for 3 dismissals
Kohli vs Rabada: Average 89.5 with 2 dismissals
Kohli vs Mahraj: 164 runs without dismissal
Rahul vs Ngidi: 35 runs for 2 dismissals
Mayank vs Mahraj: Average 122 with 1 dismissal
Pujara vs Ngidi: 28 runs for 2 dismissals
Rahane vs Rabada: 77 runs without dismissal

South Africa
Elgar vs Ashwin: Average 24.5 with 6 dismissals 
Elgar vs Bumrah: 78 runs for 2 dismissals
Markram vs Shami: 37 runs for 3 dismissals
Markram vs Ashwin: 36 runs for 2 dismissals
Bavuma vs Ashwin: 50 runs without dismissal
Bavuma vs Shami: 31 runs for 4 dismissals

Key Players
 

India

• KL Rahul scored a brilliant century in the first game which set the platform for India’s win. Rahul will again be very important as Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane are not at their best with the bat and with Rohit Sharma out as well.
   
• Jasprit Bumrah again showed his class in the first game. He bowled really tight lines and lengths and always kept the Protea batters under pressure. He picked the important wickets of Dean Elgar, who was looking threatening to India’s chances and Rassie van der Dussen on the 5th day.
   
• Mohammad Shami proved himself by picking up 8 wickets in the first game including a five-wicket haul in the first innings. Shami bowled really well and never allowed the African batters to settle in. India will expect a similar performance from him in this game as well.
   

South Africa

• Dean Elgar showed excellent character in the second innings scoring a brilliant 77 runs. At one time it looked like he’ll save the test match for his team. Elgar is the most important batter for his side and will look to lead from the front. Expectations will be high from him as well.
   
• The pace attack of the Proteas will have to ensure that the Indian batters don’t put up a big score. Lungi Ngidi, Kagiso Rabada, and Duanne Olivier will be very crucial for the Proteas. Ngidi and Rabada bowled really well in the first innings and South African fans will want them to continue the same.
   
• Temba Bavuma played really well in both the innings of the first match. He scored a half-century (52 runs) in the first innings and remained not out in the second innings. Except Dean Elgar, Bavuma is the only batsman who showed some character against the Indian bowling attack. He again will be very vital for his team with the bat,

Only 3 Current Indians with 50+ Test Average against SA

67.3: Mayank Agarwal
56.4: Virat Kohli
54.4: Ajinkya Rahane

Dream11 Prediction

Top Captaincy Picks:

• KL Rahul
• Jasprit Bumrah
• Dean Elgar
• Lungi Ngidi
• Mohammad Siraj

Team 1

Team 2