IND vs SA LIVE – India Tour of South-Africa: 7 times Indian cricket team has attempted to defeat South Africa in South Africa – but everytime they have failed. According to Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar – the forthcoming tour will be India’s best chance to win in South Africa. Gavaskar says, if Virat Kohli’s team can manage to win – ‘SKY will be the limit for Indian Cricket’: Follow INDIA vs South Africa Test Series LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN
“If they win in South Africa it will truly be the crowning glory and complete the circle of India winning a Test series in every Test-playing country. South Africa is the last hurdle and once that’s done then the sky is the limit for Indian cricket,”, wrote Indian batting legend in a column for Sportstar.
IND vs SA LIVE: South Africa captain Dean Elgar admits, Jasprit Bumrah ‘biggest threat…
IND vs SA LIVE: Gavaskar says, ‘if India can beat South Africa in SA, SKY will be the limit for Indian Cricket’
INDIA’s Report Card: Test Series in South Africa
- Overall India has played 7 Test Series in South Africa & has never been succesful.
- 2010 Series was India’s beat performance – India managed drawing the 3 test series 1-1 under MS Dhoni.
- In 20 Test Matches in SA – India has only won 3 Test Matches, Lost 10 & have drawn 7
- In the last series in 2018, India lost the series 2-1
India Tour of South-Africa: Will India Register 1st Series Victory in South Africa? This time Gavaskar feels things are little different. India is on high after beating Australia and England at their own dens.
The former India captain feels this is India’s best chance to do what no other Indian team has done before – win a Test series in the rainbow nation. Ahead of the start of the first Test in Centurion on Boxing Day, Gavaskar listed a couple of reasons as to why India may hold the edge against the Proteas.
“Coming to India’s tour of South Africa, the turmoil with the release of the SJN report indicting three former South African greats is certainly not going to help the home team,”
India Tour of South-Africa: With South Africa already without the likes of AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, both of whom have retired from Test cricket, they are likely to field a further depleted side with reports of Quinton de Kock possibly missing part of the Test series.
De Kock’s wife Sasha is expected to give birth to the couple’s first child, during the same time. It could rule him out of the second and third Tests, especially given the bio-bubble conditions.
“There is also talk about Quinton de Kock, who loves Indian bowling, not being available to play the second and third Test. That weakens a fragile batting line-up even more and presents India with its best-ever chance of winning a Test series there,” Gavaskar pointed out.
India Tour of South Africa: Daryll Cullinan’s advice to South Africa, ‘make lively wickets if you want to tame Indian batsman’
Like Gavaskar, former South African test batsman Daryll Cullinan also believes India will start as favorite to win the test series. According to Cullinan only way South Africa can win is by preparing real hard & lively wickets.
“On good, lively wickets, I think the Indian batting line-up will struggle against South Africa’s extra pace and bounce,”
“The danger they (South Africa) have is a long tail and they are very reliant on their top order.
As for India, they’ve probably got the best depth at the moment in world cricket when it comes to their pace attack. So I think for both teams, where the wicket will support quicks, it will come down to their top six as to how well they bat,” he added.
India Tour of South Africa: Cullinan further stated that SA doesn’t have the batting firepower as compared to India who bats deep. A number of star batters like AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis and Hashim Amla have retired from Test cricket.
“South Africa’s batting has been a concern for quite a while. I think that’s more the reason why they should back their bowlers to win them the series,” he further stated.
“India then might have an advantage as they bat deep. Often in South Africa, if you’ve got useful players at Nos.7, 8 and 9, often those 50-60 runs coming from them make a difference in terms of the outcome of the series. And that’s where South Africa struggle, as they don’t really bat well at (Nos.) 8, 9, 10 and 11,” Cullinan was quoted by The Telegraph.
