There’s been little to choose from between India and South Africa over the T20 and ODI matches that have taken place on the tip of Africa to date. A keenly contested three-match T20I series ended 1-1 after the first match at Kingsmead in Durban was abandoned before the toss.
At the time of writing, we await the result of the third and final ODI encounter between the hosts and the ICC World Cup runners-up taking place at Boland Park in Paarl on 21 December. With India (17/20) slightly favoured to beat the Proteas (1/1) by online bookmakers, it promises to be a tight affair to decide the 50-over series, which is all-square going into the encounter.
Which Indian players have performed best on the tour to date, and are any of these set to feature in the upcoming Test series beginning on the day after Christmas at Supersport Park in Centurion?
From a batting perspective, Indian T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav stood head-and-shoulders above the rest on tour during the T20I series, scoring 156 runs in the two matches at an average of 78. Yadav enjoyed a series strike rate of 169.56, helped by a sparkling century off only 56 balls in the 3rd T20I at the Wanderers in Johannesburg.
Suryakumar Yadav will play no further part in the tour, having not been selected for the ODI or Test squads. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored 60 in the 3rd T20I will feature though, as he forms part of the Test squad, while Rinku Singh, scorer of an unbeaten half-century in the 2nd T20I, is playing in the ODI series.
The two completed ODI matches have seen opener Sai Sudharsan score two fifties to average 117 in the series, with Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul both passing fifty in their only innings so far. With the two latter players set to feature in the upcoming Test series, their good form bodes well for the rest of the tour.
Bowling-wise, Kuldeep Yadav’s left-arm spin cleaned up South Africa in the 3rd T20I with a match haul of 5/17. With a wicket in the previous match, he ended with a series-high six wickets. India’s opening bowler in the ODI series, Arshdeep Singh also has a five-wicket haul, taking 5/37 in the rain-affected first 50-over encounter in Johannesburg.
With neither of these players included in the Test squad, India will have to look elsewhere for wickets during the two-match series. Potentially, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and fast bowler Mohammed Siraj will assist there, with Jadeja taking some wickets and Siraj bowling economically in the T20I series.
Unfortunately, India’s frontline bowler Mohammed Shami will be missing in Centurion and Cape Town after failing a medical before the tour. Young wicketkeeper-batsman Ishan Kishan won’t take any part either after recently withdrawing from the Test squad citing personal reasons.
With South Africa (17/10) eclipsing India (5/2) in the first Test betting odds according to the best online betting sites in India, the Men in Blue will rely on their form players to upset the odds and take a lead into their first Test match of 2024 at Newlands in Cape Town. Those fans interested in following the odds and betting on the tourists during the Tests should consider safebettingsites.com/in/ as a means of doing so.