South Africa have made interesting selections.
Why are Dewald Brevis and Kagiso Rabada not in the South Africa playing XI? Both are crucial to the Proteas’ chances in India, but their exclusion has various reasons.
Dewald Brevis has missed out due to the team combination. During the Pakistan tour, Temba Bavuma was unavailable, which opened a slot in the middle order for Brevis to come in.
However, Bavuma is back, and the Proteas needed to remove one of the members from the previous XI. They wanted both Ryan Rickelton and Kyle Verreynne in the XI, leaving no place for Brevis.
Maybe South Africa should have removed Verreynne to accommodate Brevis, who is a superb spin player and could have put the pressure on four Indian spinners. Verreynne sweeps a lot, but India’s lines will be a lot straighter, making him vulnerable against this attack.
Meanwhile, Brevis can play with a straighter bat and target down the ground. He is not a Test specialist, but good enough to do the job on these surfaces.
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This is a massive blow for South Africa. Their ace pacer Kagiso Rabada has missed the first Test due to a rib injury.
There were no such reports before, but a sudden revelation by South Africa captain Bavuma has left the Proteas bowling attack susceptible. Rabada is easily their most skilled and experienced bowler, and his experience would have been handy in Indian conditions.
This deck will slow down, and pacers will get some reverse swing later in the game, which would have increased Rabada’s role against a strong India batting outfit. Corbin Bosch, who has replaced him in the XI, has decent skills, but he can’t do what Rabada is capable of.
South Africa don’t have many experienced pace bowlers in the department to adjust to the Indian line and length. Now that Rabada is not playing, Jansen’s role will increase as a pacer, and the spinners must do the heavy lifting.
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Shubman Gill(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
South Africa: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma(c), Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne(w), Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Keshav Maharaj
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