India’s tour to South Africa
In less than 3 weeks time, two of Test cricket’s top teams in recent years will clash. India is set to take on South Africa after defeating former world number 1 team http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 and New Zealand at home.
South Africa will go into the series after a dull Test series against Pakistan. The South African’s only managed to draw the 2 match Test series played on batting friendly pitches in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033.
South African pacers are looking forward to bowling on much more bowling friendly pitches at home in the series against India. South African pitches are famous for their bounce and pace.
South African coach Corrie van Zyl expects to find pitches which support their style of play and allows them to take advantage of their strengths. Pitches in South Africa are generally more supportive to seamers and the home side might go into the match
with 4 fast bowlers in their side.
If South Africa does decide on having four pacers in their side, one of the two spinners playing against Pakistan will be left out.
South Africa’s T-20 captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755. Botha believes South Africa will play only one spinner and has tipped he will be the one to miss out.
He said, "Paul has done a good job, and he's done it for a few years now. I think he's still number one against India. I doubt we'll play two spinners, but hopefully I've done enough that if there's a gap I would take it".
Indian batsmen are believed to be amongst the best players of spin bowling and it will be a huge risk to play both Botha and Paul Haris in the home series. The South African spinners failed to impress in the Test series against Pakistan, who also are thought
to be comfortable against spin.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 will be hoping to serve justice to their number one status by playing good cricket in South Africa. India thrashed Australia in the two match Test series winning it 2-0. They followed their victory against the former number one side with a 1-0 series
against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754.
The Kewis put on a good performance in the opening two Tests, which ended without any result, but were demolished to a terrible innings defeat in the final Test.
Indian batsmen will face a stern challenge in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 on conditions completely different from their home. Indian pitches are known to have spin and generally produce low bounce. Indian coach and as many as 10 Indian players are leaving early for South
Africa to get accustomed to the conditions.
Indian captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Virender-Sehwag-c95429, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Cheteshwar Pujara and Jaydev Unadkat are among the players who will leave India to go to South Africa. There early departure means India will
be without these players in the final 2 ODI matches against New Zealand.
South Africa’s batting line has been in sublime form of late and is expected to perform well. However, they do have injury issues with captain, Graeme Smith, and Hashim Amla is expected to miss out on the first Test, their batting might be tested.
Both players picked up their injuries in their tour of UAE. Smith had fractured his left hand finger, an injury he has had before, and might require surgery. Amla got his injury in a Test match when he was struck on the arm by a Misbah ul Haq pull shot while
fielding at short leg.
Both teams will be looking to perform well during India’s tour to gain practice for the World cup. A win in the ODI series will immensely boost their confidence heading into the 2011 World cup.
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