The Indian men’s cricket team got down to business ahead of the two-match Test series against South Africa, which begins on Boxing Day at SuperSport Park in Centurion.
India are hoping to claim a first-ever series victory in South Africa, where they have come close before only to fall agonisingly short. South Africa have been victors in seven of India’s eight visits since the first in 1992 with one series drawn in 2010/11, but six of those successes have been by a single win margin.
The tourists may now feel they have never had a better chance. This South African side does not have the experience and quality with bat and ball of those of years gone by, and their top six in particular can be brittle.
They also face late fitness tests for key fast bowlers Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi, who could be a handful on what is expected to be a lively Centurion Park pitch in the first test, before the tour moves to Newlands in Cape Town for the second fixture from Jan. 3.
Test Match Mode #TeamIndia batters are geared up for the Boxing Day Test #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/Mvkvet6Ed9— BCCI (@BCCI) December 25, 2023
The video posted, by BCCI on their social media handles, shows Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli batting in the nets, along with Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja, among others.
Rohit and Kohli led the Indian players out for training to ready themselves and break a 31-year jinx in Indian cricket having missed out on a Test series win in the ‘Rainbow Nation’.
Quite remarkably, South Africa have not drawn a test at home since a rain-affected game against New Zealand in 2016, a run of 32 matches that has yielded 24 wins and eight defeats.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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