Johannesburg: A desperate India will be keen for a consolation win and to avoid a whitewash when they face South Africa in the third and final Test, starting Wednesday at the Wanderers here. The hosts have already sealed the series, after winning the first two Tests in Cape Town and Centurion respectively.
This was the first overseas Test series loss for India under Virat Kohli (discounting the 2014 loss in Australia as MS Dhoni was full-time captain back then). The tour has also ended India’s streak of nine consecutive series’ wins since 2015. The side, however, will not lose its No.1 Test ranking even if the rubber ends 0-3.
As if responding to the severe criticism of selections so far, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is set to return to the side, after mysteriously sitting out the previous Test. Keeping in mind the grass cover on the pitch, India may go into the game with a four-strong pace attack, backed up by Hardik Pandya. The idea is to fight pace with pace and if that happens, India’s No.1 spinner Ravi Ashwin may well have to sit out of the game. The offie did not have much of a bowl at the nets, while Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar, Mohammed Shami and Pandya had long bowling spells at the nets.
It is more or less certain that Ajinkya Rahane will return to the middle-order. But then there is also a possibility of Dinesh Karthik replacing Parthiv Patel, who had a torrid game at Centurion.
Overall, the scenery has changed quite drastically for Kohli. Six months ago, he had led the side to an emphatic 3-0 victory in Sri Lanka, a feat never achieved by an Indian team. Now, he stands on the brink of another 3-0 score-line, but with fortunes reversed, as no Indian team has previously been whitewashed on the South African soil.
Since 1992, India have visited six times here and their worst defeat was by a 0-2 margin in a three-Test series in 1996-97 under Sachin Tendulkar. Since 2006, in their last three visits to South Africa, India have managed to win or draw at least one Test and thus will be leaning on that historical fact to attain something of note in this series.
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