After a crushing defeat in the first Test, India will be desperate to bounce back with a win and improve its standing on the World Test Championship points table.
The flat-outgunned mountain lends a stunning background to this gorgeous megacity, gentled by the Atlantic and Indian abysses, on the West Coast of South Africa. On the foothills of the mountain lies the Newlands Cricket Ground, one of the world’s most beautiful sporting venues.
Indeed as the Indian and South African cricketers rehearsed under the blazing sun on Tuesday, they may well have broken for a moment to take in the beauty of the ground, the surroundings. Quite several people had gathered at the venue, including a triad of Bangladeshi emigrants, one of whom swears only by Virender Sehwag, but he’d do with Rohit Sharma for the time being.
By the time the likes of Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal padded up to train at nets, the size of the observers had grown fleetly. The two youthful batters would come under bigger scrutiny in the alternate Test, starting on Wednesday.
Having lost the first at Centurion rather poorly, India will be hopeless to brio back, immaculately with a palm, which it needs, not just for morale but for perfecting its standing on the World Test Championship points table.
It’s early days, but the finalist of the last two crowns is lying sixth.
South Africa is on top, and it should be hoping to consolidate its position with another strong show against India. In Temba Bavuma’s absence, nature Dean Elgar will lead the side.
It was as if Fortune was conscious of the nature of having this honor in his final Test. Many men have held a justice club with as important pride and fortitude.
His teammates will surely want to give him a befitting farewell. Bavuma’s absence means that Zubayr Hamza could play a Test match for the first time in nearly two times, his last being against New Zealand at Christ Church.
The South African team that will be traveling to New Zealand for a two-Test series this coming month has been a talking point around cricketing circles; there are only seven limited players, because of the clash of dates with SA20. But it’s a near full-strength team that’s taking on India.
The fur will feature the likes of the in-form Tony de Zorzi, David Bedingham, who had debuted well in the last Test, and Aidam Markram.
The bowling, commanded by the magnific Kagiso Rabada, looks sharp, too. The attack also has Nandre Burger, who picked up seven lattices on debut, and Marco Jansen. They could be joined by Keshav Maharaj, as the gate is anticipated to turn latterly on.
This means India could be tempted to play both Ravindra Jadeja, who’s fit again, and. Ashwin. It would also be intriguing to see if India would make a change in the pace department by bringing in Avesh Khan or Mukesh Kumar or giving another occasion to Prasidh Krishna.
India surely needs an important advanced fur display. Rohit, Shreyas Iyer, Gill, and Jaiswal will have to try what Virat Kohli and K.L. Rahul did at Centurion.
As for records, India has noway won a Test on this ground. There’s a first time for everything, of course. Know More Latest Cricket News…
