After sharing the T20 series recently, the main part of the tour of India begins for South Africa on Wednesday when the three match Test series gets started, which for the tourists is the start of their World Test Championship campaign.
These are two of the better Test playing nations in the world so a competitive series is expected over the next month, as the early stages of that WTC continue to take shape. There is plenty at stake here with that in mind.
Schedule
1st Test: 2-6 Oct at Visakhapatnam
2nd Test: 10-14 Oct at Pune
3rd Test: 19-23 at Ranchi
India
The Indians will go into this series with a remarkable recent record in this format of the game. They have only lost two of their last 16 series in the longer form over the last four years, and with that they are probably worthy favourites to win the inaugural World Test Championship in a couple of years. They got their campaign off to the perfect start with a comfortable 2-0 win in the West Indies last time out and any points picked up here will be significant.
The reason for the success of the Indians in recent times has been their bowling attack. Not just is it of the highest quality but also they have the options required to function in all conditions, something which is going to serve them well should they make the final of the World Test Championship, as that is going to be held in England. Their batting is also top class too so they are going to be tough to beat.
South Africa
India are not the only ones who are going well at the minute. South Africa are in decent nick themselves. They have lost just three of their last 12 Test series although they won’t need reminding that they have come up short in two of their last three, both of which were to Sri Lanka. This is their first series in the better part of eight months so they will need to readjust to the red ball and the challenges it brings as quickly as they can.
The big thing for South Africa in this series is how well the side will bat. These aren’t traditional conditions for them although most of them have played a fair bit in India now for it not to be an excuse. The other obvious weakness is the lack of a genuinely world class spin option. If they can get the ball reverse swinging though they would certainly have a chance of being competitive if nothing else.
Head-to-Head
There have been 13 previous series between these two nations, which feels like quite a small number but obviously South Africa were out of international cricket for a while and India went through a spell where they didn’t play much Test cricket. South Africa have won seven of those 13 series with India coming out on top in just three of them. There have been three drawn series too. All three of India’s wins have come in their own country where South Africa have just one series win in six series and just five match wins from 16 attempts so in these conditions history is on the home side.
Betting
I’m not a huge bettor when it comes to betting on series in India because the usual protagonists usually come to the party but they are not generally priced well enough to lure us in but there is one where there is just an ounce of juice for us to attack which comes in the form of the top India series batsman market.
Virat Kohli showed his class in the T20 series and with India still scrambling around for an opening pair and Cheteshwar Pujara leaving plenty to be desired over the last 18 months I think the Indian captain is a decent enough bet at 6/4. You would think over six innings he will put in two significant contributions at the very least, and it could be that is all he needs. Kohli is the class act in the field and at 6/4 can top score in this series.
Tips
Back V.Kohli Top India Series Batsman for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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