South Africa have already won the T20 series and the ODI series on their tour of India and on Thursday they will go in search of the clean sweep when they start a four match Test series against the Asian powerhouse.
It is fair to say India have been shell shocked by the South Africans in the two formats they enjoy the most so it will be interest to see if they can turn the tables in the format that the Proteas are most comfortable in.
There aren’t many four match Test series around in the world these days so we should make the most of this one. Four excellent venues – Mohali, Bangalore, Nagpur and Delhi will be used for the series and they should provide us with some fascinating cricket.
India are undefeated in their last two Test series but prior to that they had gone four on the trot without avoiding defeat so that shows they are not comfortable in the longer format.
In contrast South Africa have only lost one of their last 19 Test series so this is a format they are entirely comfortable in. That defeat came at home to Australia last year but that’s the only series they’ve lost since 2009.
We’ve got two inexperienced captains going up against each other here so it will be interesting to see who comes out on top in the captaincy battle. It could be that whoever comes out on the battle between Kohli and Amla the captains will win the series.
A captain is usually only as good as his bowling attack though and if that saying proves true here then I would expect South Africa to triumph as their attack is light years better. Importantly with the emergence of Simon Harmer, Amla has two solid spinners at his disposal which could also provide the difference.
I can’t believe South Africa aren’t the favourites in this series. Often MS Dhoni was a calming influence on this Indian side but he’s quit this format now and you get the feeling they are a side in transition. Although Amla is fairly inexperienced this South Africa side is well established. Amla has plenty of captaincy experience around him and so I’m fully on the tourists to maintain their wonderful Test record.
Looking at the player markets and there are a couple that stand out to me here too. The first one comes in the South African batsmen market where AB de Villiers is understandably all the rage but I fancy taking him on.
The captain Hashim Amla has been short of runs on this trip so far but I’m a big believer in class prevailing and now that he’s away from the new ball I think he’ll benefit from that. He is one of the best players of spin in the world and has a point to prove with some questioning his form. He’ll also want to show he can lead from the front so I’ll gladly have that 7/2 on him top scoring in this series.
The other bet I like is Ravindra Jadeja to be India’s top bowler. I’m taking a bit of a punt here in that he’s another who isn’t guaranteed to start the series but his form with the ball recently has been crazy.
He has taken 38 wickets in four First-class matches in the last month so the ball is coming out of his arm brilliantly and with South Africa having a significant number of right handers he’ll be able to target their outside edge all series.
I’m hoping that his batting prowess will tempt Kohli to picking him at seven and if he does we should be bang in the game at a 7/1 that looks far too big especially with Ashwin having missed the last couple of weeks with injury.
Back South Africa to win Test Series for a 6/10 stake at 2.80 with Paddy Power
Back H.Amla Top South Africa Series Batsman for a 2/10 stake at 4.50 with Skybet
Back R.Jadeja Top India Series Bowler for a 1/10 stake at 8.00 with Coral
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