SA Test series: Eyes will be on batters as India take on bogey side sans Shami

Before the 50-over home World Cup, which ended in tears and utter disappointment in Ahmedabad last month, Ravi Shastri had proclaimed that if that Indian team didn’t win the title, it would take a long, long time before another Indian outfit could be pieced together that would battle for top honours in the showpiece One-Day International event.

Pretty much the same can be said of the Test squad currently in South Africa. If Rohit Sharma’s men don’t break their duck this time around — South Africa is the only nation where India haven’t won a Test series — the wait for the end of the drought could be seriously lengthy.

Missed chances

India have toured South Africa eight times previously, starting with the Friendship Series in 1992 which marked the once-banned country’s return to hosting Test cricket. South Africa’s apartheid policy, which led to their sporting isolation, ended in the early 1990s and India were the first to welcome them back, with an ODI series in India in 1991. South Africa as hosts, however, haven’t been too “welcoming”, riding on the strength of their pace attacks and the skill of their batsmen to sweep all but one of those eight series.

It's not as if India haven’t had their chances. In each of their past five tours, they have won one Test; however, the final hurdle has been a step too far. When they boasted the golden generation of batting — Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, and Sourav Ganguly — India didn’t enjoy the pace resources that could have given them the edge.

Once the stalwarts retired, India strung together a pace battery for the ages but the batsmen haven’t responded commensurately. There is hope, though, that things have fallen in place this time around, despite the absence through injury of Mohammed Shami.

The Shami factor

Shami was the prime driving force during India’s charge to the final of the World Cup, finishing with a tournament-high 24 wickets despite not playing the first four matches. He picked up an ankle injury during that stupendous run and played through the injury in the title clash against Australia but hasn’t recovered sufficiently to stand up to the rigours of Test cricket. His absence will be an immense blow; with 35 wickets in eight Tests in South Africa, he knows what it takes to court success on these pitches, but such is the nature of international cricket that teams are used to key performers not being available at key moments.

Shami’s presence would undoubtedly have given India the edge but even without him, there is enough quality at Rohit’s disposal. Jasprit Bumrah, who made his Test debut in this country in 2018, is back at the top of his game after spending several months away recuperating from back surgery. Six previous Tests in South Africa have netted him 26 wickets, and while this is his first Test since July 2022, when he captained against England in Birmingham, there are no doubts about his match-readiness. Without Shami, the responsibility of leading the attack and playing the mentoring role to the other quicks will fall on the 30-year-old’s shoulders; it is a responsibility he has handled with aplomb in the past and there is no reason to believe that will change.

Opportunity in misfortune

In Shami’s unfortunate injury lies the chance for India to take the conditions out of their thinking and go with their best five bowlers, which will automatically then translate to a place in the playing XI alongside Ravindra Jadeja for R Ashwin. India have been reluctant to field both spinners outside the subcontinent, but especially given the gaping hole left behind by Shami, it becomes imperative to bring the veteran off-spinner back into the mix. Jadeja and Ashwin at Nos. 7 and 8 — both have multiple Test hundreds — will also organically extend the batting, thereby somewhat easing the pressure on the potential pace trio of Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Prasidh Krishna to contribute with the bat as well.

It is with the bat that India’s exploits will be watched with keen interest. All indications are that KL Rahul will return to the Test XI for the first time since February, but in the unfamiliar role of a designated wicketkeeper-batsman who will slot into the middle order. Rahul’s Test career has plateaued since January 2022; with just one half-century in 12 innings as opener in South Africa, Bangladesh and at home, he played himself out of the side, but with KS Bharat somewhat falling off the radar (he is a little addition to the Test squad) and Ishan Kishan returning home ostensibly to relieve himself of mental fatigue, Rahul appears to have received an unexpected lifeline.

Batters face unfamiliarity

Alongside Virat Kohli, Rahul is the only batsman in this side to have made a Test hundred in South Africa. Despite his meagre returns in the past 23 months, his pedigree has never been in doubt, and if he can reprise his exploits of the World Cup at No. 6 in the Test squad, it will be huge. After all, of the other four in the top six, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Shreyas Iyer haven’t played a Test in South Africa, while the last of Rohit’s four Tests here came nearly six years back, in early 2018.

Temba Bavuma’s South Africa will be no pushovers. They aren’t as invincible at home as some of the other top sides, probably because their surfaces keep bowlers of all types interested at all stages of the game and, therefore, they can’t truly speak of enjoying home advantage. But they aren’t unaware that they have been India’s bogey side more than anyone else, and they will draw heart from the last series in 2021-22 when they bounced back from defeat in Centurion to triumph 2-1. It’s at the same venue that the first of two Tests will begin on Boxing Day on Tuesday (December 26); in a series as condensed as this one, the early punch could prove decisive and that’s what the Proteas will be targeting, having unearthed a dangerous prospect in left-arm pacer Nandre Burger in the recently concluded ODI series which India won 2-1.

Just two Tests between the world’s No. 1 team and the fourth-ranked outfit in the latter’s backyard is a bit of a shame, but that’s the price one must pay in these days of packed calendars with a marked onus on the white-ball formats. It’s up to the two sides involved to make sure that these two Tests are memorable for the right reasons.