Test matches in general are very rare in India these days but four match Test series are almost extinct but amazingly India and South Africa begin one such type on Thursday when they face off for the first time over the longer format in Mohali.
India haven’t played a Test match at home in two years so this will be a strangely momentous occasion for them. They have a new captain since the last time they played here and it will be down to Virat Kohli and his men to repopulate the format in the cricket mad nation.
India look set to go into this match with a three prong spin attack. Ashwin and Jadeja were certain to play it seems but it looks like Amit Mishra will join them. That means Kohli will have to choose two of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Varun Aaron and Umesh Yadav to make up his attack.
South Africa are much more regular players of Test cricket and despite comings and goings in the coaching and captaincy department not to mention one or two legends they have maintained their form and their consistency and they’re a tough nut to crack now.
Hashim Amla looks set to be without JP Duminy who is still recovering from the hand injury which saw him miss the end of the ODI series. South Africa look set to play their three main seamers so they will need to choose between Simon Harmer or Imran Tahir in the spinner role.
The PCA Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali is the venue for this match. It will be hosting Test cricket for the 12th time. This will be the first time South Africa will have played here. India have played here 11 times and only lost once. They have five wins and five draws in the other ten.
If you think to the Indian Premier League and the Kings XI Punjab who use this as their home ground you would think this suits the seamers with the bounce that is in the wicket. Historical Test matches here suggest the same but the talk coming from India is that this wicket will turn quite big.
Given the noises coming out of India I’ll wait until later in the match before getting involved in the outcome of it especially as Kohli is still a relatively inexperienced captain.
There are a couple that catch my eye before the off though. Firstly I still think there will be some bounce in this wicket. Even if it turns the spinners will want some bounce else they are easy to play so that bounce can suit Morne Morkel well.
Morkel has a decent record in India and has only had one match where he hasn’t taken a wicket. He has a performance line of just 85 which he could well cover with just four wickets but we saw in the limited overs matches he played how uncomfortable he can make it for the batsmen so I fancy he will have five in him here and with that I expect the line to be covered.
I’ll also have a stab at Ravi Jadeja to be the man of the match. With India playing three spinners it looks like they are going in with a batsman light and so Jadeja is going to be a big part of this match. Jadeja is in great form with the ball as I discussed in my series preview but he’s a pretty accomplished batsman in his own right too and given that India are likely to need some runs from him there’s enough to sway the vote in his favour.
Back M.Morkel’s Performance Pts – 85&Over for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back R.Jadeja Man of the Match for a 1/10 stake at 17.00 with BetVictor
Blog cricket YTD: +14.59pts
