Hindi News

It was even-steven in the T20I series and now it's time for the longest format of the game to take over as the number 1 Test side in the world gets ready to host South Africa. In their last Test series, India fended off West Indies quite convincingly as they moved to the top of the pile in the ICC World Test Championship. The visitors, on the other hand, lost a home series against Sri Lanka earlier in the year in their last Test assignment. South Africa will not be having the services of Hashim Amla and Dale Steyn as they recently announced their retirement from the longest format of the game. Faf du Plessis, who took a break from the T20I series is back at the helm for the visitors. He along with Markram and Quinton de Kock will have the major responsibility in the batting department. Markram and middle-order batsman Temba Bavuma had a decent outing in the rain-hit practice game against Indian Board President's XI. They would like to carry on the momentum from that game. Keeping the subcontinent conditions in mind, South Africa have got three spinners in their ranks with Keshav Maharaj leading the pack. World No. 2 Test bowler Kagiso Rabada will be spearheading the pace attack and will have the support of Vernon Philander, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje. The hosts, on the other hand, will be experimenting with their batting at the top. BCCI announced India's playing XI a day before, which sees their backing of Rohit Sharma over Shubman Gill, to partner Mayank Agarwal at the top. In the practice game, Rohit bagged a duck but would like to forget that heading into the series. The Men In Blue will be missing the services of their main pacer, Jasprit Bumrah who has been ruled out of the series due to a stress fracture. However, with the presence of experienced bowlers like Mohammad Shami and Ishant Sharma, the bowling department still looks pretty strong. The spinners have always been the most dominant at home and the hosts have got Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to do the job for the team. A day before the game, The presence of Wriddhiman Saha over Rishabh Pant could raise a few questions. Has Pant been dropped for his poor shot selection with the bat? Or is it because Saha could do a better job on turning pitches at home? Who will come out on top? Can the visitors bury the ghosts of their last 0-3 drubbing and do better or will the hosts continue their domination? To find out, join us on 2nd October 2019 at 0930 local (0400 GMT).