In three weeks, South Africa will host India for a 2-match Test series. The Proteas will face the Indian challenge two years after they beat them 2-1 in the 2021–22 Test series. The SA squad for Test vs India was announced on Monday, December 4, and there were some notable exclusions. On the back of a semifinal run in the ODI World Cup, the Temba Bavuma-led side has made a few changes to their Test squad.
The last Test series the Proteas played came back in February–March against the West Indies at home. Players like Heinrich Klassen, Ryan Rickleton, Senuran Muthusamy, and Simon Harmer, who were back in the squad back then, have now been excluded. However, the biggest exclusion is their spearhead, Anrich Nortje. The pacer has been out of action ever since he sustained a back injury before the ODI World Cup.
However, one man’s misery is another man’s fortune. While these four players miss out, three others, David Bedingham, Nandre Burger, and Tristan Stubbs, have made the cut in the SA squad for Tests vs India.
While Bedingham and Burger have not played a single match for South Africa, Stubbs made his debut a year ago in white cricket.
Playing as middle-order batters, Bedingham and Stubbs average 50 and 44, respectively, in first-class cricket. Burgen, who is a bowling all-rounder by trade, has 122 wickets while averaging 11 with the bat.
SA squad for Tests vs India
Temba Bavuma (c), David Bedingham, Nandre Burger, Gerald Coetzee, Tony de Zorzi, Dean Elgar, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Lungi Ngidi, Keegan Petersen, Kagiso Rabada, Tristan Stubbs and Kyle Verreynne
India squad for Tests vs SA
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Mohammed Shami (subject to fitness), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Prasidh Krishna.
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