Team India eye a winning start to South Africa tour
Date and Time : 5-9 January 2018, 2:00 PM IST
Venue : Newlands, Cape Town
India will begin this year with a tough tour on South African soil. They will play three Test matches, 6 ODI’s and 3 T20I’s. The men in blue know it will be a sterner test for them.
But we fans are waiting for good competitive cricket as we inch closer to next year’s World Cup in England.
Winning outside of India is something which has been questioned quite a lot in the past and it will be an opportunity to silence the critics with a series win in South Africa. This Indian team has been breaking a lot of records in recent times and success away from home will be on their mind.
But South Africa are a very good side and they themselves will be eager to knock India of the top of Test rankings and the conditions will certainly help them.
Team news and possible line-ups
Dale Steyn is doubtful for the Proteas for the first Test. While Faf du Plessis is available and will likely play against India.
As for India, Shikhar Dhawan is doubtful for the New Year Test. Other than that captain Kohli will have look for the right combination for first Test match.
South Africa XI : Markram, D. Elgar, H. Amla, De Villiers, Du Plessis (C), Bavuma, De Kock (WK), Philander, Rabada, M. Morkel, Maharaj.
India XI : Vijay, L. Rahul, Pujara, Kohli (C), Rahane, R. Sharma, Ashwin, W. Saha (WK), B. Kumar, Shami, I. Sharma.
Prediction
It will be good competitive match between the top two sides in the world. May the best team who plays good cricket over the course of five days win.
