India v/s South Africa: The Boxing Day Test preview

December 26th, also known as 'The Boxing Day' has a special place in the heart of all cricket fans across the globe, for it is the day when cricket re-starts after the Christmas break in commonwealth countries like Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. There are so many backstories revolving around the term based on this date, one being the endowing of gift boxes to employees, who worked on Christmas Day.

The first-ever boxing day Test match was played in 1950-51, between England and Australia in Ashes. Though it was from 22nd to 27th December, the fourth day happened to be on boxing day. Australia won the Test match, beating England by 28 runs.

Test cricket will be back in the rainbow nation after a while from December 26th. Virat Kohli and his men in blue will take on the proteas, looking for their first Test series win in South Africa in 29 years of history between both nations. Amidst the new Corona variant 'Omicron' threat, the series is set to be played behind closed doors with a lot of precautionary measures for both teams. But the fans are set to witness some fascinating battle with high-quality pacers on both sides.

Team India:

India will be missing two important players of their core team, Rohit Sharma and Ravi Jadeja who have played an impactful role in the longer format. All eyes will be on Virat Kohli as he's desperately waiting for his 71st International hundred from the last 2 years. With no Rohit at the top and a fragile middle order, it will be high time for Virat Kohli to step up and turn into his run machine mode. It will be crucial for the chances of India in the series.

Captain Kohli And his men have many voids to fill, namely with Pujara not scoring big hundreds, Rahane lacking confidence, Iyer going to play first overseas tour. Also, with no Jadeja at number 7, India shall look to play an extra batsman in Vihari at number 6, and might go with 3 seamers and Ravichandran Ashwin as spinner-allrounder.

Siraj is all set to start the series along with Bumrah and Shami, the three consistent pacers for Team India in the last 1 year. The rise of Siraj has been phenomenal and is having a dream run in the whites, whereas Ashwin has improved a lot and has been terrific overseas since 2018. The duo will be hoping to make it a tough grind for Protea batsmen in the Test series.

Indian team:

Virat Kohli ©, KL Rahul (VC), Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Priyank Panchal, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (WK), Wriddhiman Saha (WK), R Ashwin, Jayant Yadav, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj

Predicted playing 11:

Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer/Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, JaspritBumrah, Mohammed Siraj.

South Africa:

Proteas are going through a transition period in all formats. The emergence of some solid youngsters through their ranks in the recent while has been some promising signs. They have shown some encouraging display in recent times, flaunting their potential in various formats. But challenging India will be a tough climb for them, as they will be lacking experience in their batting unit. The onus will be on Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram to undertake the task and bring out consistent performances.

The hosts will miss the service of Anrich Nortje due to an injury, who has been their best bet in the bowling department in the last year across formats. But they have got some experienced guys from South Africa A and the domestic system, namely Glenton Stuurman and Marco Jansen. The strength of South Africa will be their bowling unit and the batting depth which can bring major differences like in 2018. With Rabada, Jansen, and Stuurman, they have got more than a handy lower-order to make an impact in 250-300 kinds of pitches.

South Africa team:

Dean Elgar ©, Temba Bavuma (vc), Quinton de Kock (wk), Kagiso Rabada, Sarel Erwee, Beuran Hendricks, George Linde, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Keegan Petersen , Rassie van der Dussen , Kyle Verreynne , Marco Jansen , Glenton Stuurman , Prenelan Subrayen , SisandaMagala, Ryan Rickelton, Duanne Olivier

Predicted playing 11:

Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Rassie Van Der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Temba Babuma, De Kock, Wiaan Mulder, KeshavMaharaj/Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi/Glenton Stuurman.

History:

India and South Africa have played 7 Test series in South Africa, 6 of them have won by South Africa, and one ended in a draw. The best performance by India came in 2010 when Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir played vital roles in that series.

Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, and MS Dhoni have won one Test match in South Africa as Indian captains.

Weather Report:

Rain might play a ruining role in the first Test. Also, thunderstorms are expected to make an appearance during the course of the match.

Records:

Most runs –

Sachin Tendulkar: 1741 runs

Jacques Kallis – 1734

HashimAmla – 1528

AB Devilliers – 1334

VirenderSehwag – 1306

Most wickets –

Anil Kumble: 84 wickets

Dale Steyn: 65 wickets

Javagal Srinath: 64 wickets

Harbhajan Singh: 60 wickets

Morne Morkel: 58 wickets

Match-ups:

Virat Kohli vs Kagiso Rabada: 163 runs, 259 balls, 2 wickets, 81.5 average

Cheteshwar Pujara vs Lungi Ngidi: 21 runs, 54 balls, 0 wickets.

Ajinkya Rahane vs Keshav Maharaj: 27 runs, 74 balls, 2 wickets, 13.5 average.

Dean Elgar vs Jasprit Bumrah: 57 runs, 132 balls, 0 wickets.

De Kock vs Mohammed Shami: 41 runs, 49 balls, 2 wickets, 20.5 average.

Temba Bavuma vs Ravichandran Ashwin: 34 runs, 71 balls, 1 wicket, 34 average.

(Image source: Google)

Follow me on:

Twitter