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South Africa vs India (SAvIND): The 1st Test match of New India tour of South Africa will be played between these two teams RSA vs IND, the match will start at 01:30 PM IST on 26 December 2021
Team winner Prediction:
Key Points:
- India are a better balanced side between the two, at least on paper
- With Anrich Nortje ruled out due to injury, South Africa’s bowling attack appears to be a little too over-reliant on Kagiso Rabada
- India have experience oozing right through their order and that could prove to be a distinguishing factor between the two sides
SA v IND Analysis:
Amid a lot of chaos and uncertainties, the series between South Africa and India is set to get underway. There’s already a lot of chatter happening regarding the series for both on-field and off-field reasons and that just highlights how significant this series is for both sides.
South Africa have always been tough contenders at home and given India’s recent performances in their away tours, this series is certainly going to be a treat to watch for the fans.
Match Details:
Date: December 26, 2021
Time: 01:30 PM (IST)
Venue: SuperSport Park Cricket Stadium, Centurion, South Africa
Live Streaming: Disney+ Hotstar
TV: Star Sports Network
Pitch and Weather Conditions:
The pitch at the SuperSport Park, Centurion will allow for good stroke play and the batters will find it easy to bat on the surface. It will not allow a lot of assistance to the bowlers and wicket taking is not going to be easy. The average 1st innings score at this venue in the last 5 matches is 297 runs.
The pacers have earned 78% of the total bowling fantasy points at this venue. Hence picking up pacers for your fantasy team should be a good idea.
Team Preview:
South Africa (RSA):
South Africa have always been a tough side to beat at home and that can be attributed to the difficult conditions they have for batting. This year, however, South Africa have a relatively new-look side and it will be interesting to see how they deal with a team as strong as India, even though they are playing at home.
The Proteas will be taking the field at home in the longest format of the game after a long gap of six months. In recent times, a lot have changed for them including their leader. Under Dean Elgar, they won the series 2-0 over Windies and will be looking to take their journey forward in a win in this upcoming match as well.
On paper, South Africa certainly do lack the experience of playing big matches, but the fact that they are playing at home weighs in their favor. Their bowling attack no longer looks as sharp as it looked in 2018 and the absence of Anrich Nortje isn’t helping their cause either. Besides, their batting is known to struggle against quality spin and India may well enjoy the upper hand there. All in all, South Africa will depend heavily on their batters to do well against this equipped Indian bowlers and if they are able to do well, they will be a tough nut to crack, especially at home.
Likely XI: Quinton de Kock (wk), Temba Bavuma (vice-captain), Dean Elgar (capt), Aidan Markram, Viaan Mulder, Beuran Hendrix, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Rasi Van Der Dusen, Kagiso Rabada, Glenton Sterman
Please check the team once when Playing XI Announced.
India (IND):
Indian Cricket team may have been in the news for all the wrong reasons lately, all those reasons have had nothing to do with their on-field performances. There have been selection conundrums as far as the Indian team is concerned, but even that has been a problem of plenty. Regardless of all that, this India team will be brimming with confidence going into the first match of the series, especially given the way they did in their last few away tours.
India will also draw confidence from their last tour of South Africa, wherein they managed to draw the series after being down 1-0. India’s bowling attack was one of the prime reasons that they managed to do well in that series and India will once again be hoping for their bowlers to come good in this important series. Batting, however, hasn’t been as good for India in recent times and it will be a testing time for the likes of Chetershwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, and KL Rahul at the top.
All in all, this is one Indian unit that has done well in the longest version of the game. There’s a lot riding on the result of this match, especially with some much happening off-field. India’s bowling already looks set and if their batting can handle the conditions and pressure, India will certainly be in business to script history.
Likely XI: Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (Captain), Shreyas Iyer/Ajinkya Rahane, Rishabh Pant (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Muhammad Siraj
Please check the team once when Playing XI Announced.
Squads:
South Africa Squad: Dean Elgar (capt), Temba Bavuma (vice-captain), Quinton de Kock (wk), Aidan Markram, Viaan Mulder, Kagiso Rabada, Sarel Irvi, Beuran Hendrix, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Norkhia, Keegan Pietersen, Rasi Van Der Dusen, Kyle Varini, Marco Janssen, Glenton Sterman, Prenellen Subrian, Sisanda Magala, Payne Richelton and Duane Olivier.
India Squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Rohit Sharma (Vice Captain), KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (Wicket Keeper), Wriddhiman Saha (Wicket Keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Jayant Yadav , Ishant Sharma, Muhammad Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Muhammad Siraj.
