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World Test champion South Africa is on a tour of India, where it has to play a two-Test series. This tour will not be easy for the African team, because it has not been able to win a single Test match in India for 15 years. However, South Africa has not lost a single series since winning the World Test Championship (WTC) in June 2025. ,
Both the test matches will be held in Kolkata and Guwahati. On the spin-friendly pitches here, spin all-rounders like Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar and Axar Patel will prove to be India’s biggest strength. Along with these three, Chinaman Kuldeep Yadav can prove to be a big problem for the South African batsmen.
South African captain Temba Bavuma reached Kolkata with the team on Monday.
Defeated Zimbabwe 2-0, played a draw in Pakistan South Africa won the WTC title by defeating Australia at Lord’s Stadium in London between 11 and 14 June. After this, the African team made a 2-0 clean sweep on the Zimbabwe tour, while the two-match series played on the Pakistan tour was a 1-1 draw.
This unbeaten campaign of South Africa can be stopped by the Indian team under the captaincy of Shubman Gill. Why this can happen, we are explaining it here in 6 factors.
Read 6 factors…
1. South Africa has not won in India for the last 15 years South Africa has not been able to win any test match on Indian soil for the last 15 years. The team’s last win was in 2010 in Nagpur under the captaincy of Graeme Smith. Then Africa defeated India by an innings and 6 runs. In that match, Hashim Amla played a brilliant inning of 253 unbeaten runs and was elected ‘Player of the Match’. After that match, 8 Tests have been played between the two teams in India, out of which Africa has lost 7 and one has been a draw.
South Africa toured India for the first time in 1996. It achieved its first and so far only Test series win in India in 1999. Till now there have been 7 test series between the two teams in India. India has won 4, South Africa has won 1, while 2 series have been drawn.
2. Batting on a slow wicket will also not be easy Indian pitches can become a big headache for the batsmen of the South African team. The first match of the series will be played in Kolkata and the second in Guwahati. Indian pitches are generally slow and spin friendly. In such a situation, it will not be easy for African batsmen to bat here.
3. No one has experience except Keshav Maharaj Three specialist spinners have been selected in the South African team announced for the Indian tour 15 days ago. Apart from Keshav Maharaj, there is no other experienced spinner among them. Keshav Maharaj has played 60 test matches so far, in which he has taken 212 wickets. Simon Harmer has 12 and S Muthuswamy has only 7 test match experience.
4. We have 3 spin all-rounders and Kuldeep also India has 3 spin all-rounders, not only this, Chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav has also been included in the squad against South Africa. Performance of these 4 players ahead…
- Ravindra Jadeja: Indian spin all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has taken 338 wickets in 87 Tests. Of these, 246 wickets have come on Indian pitches.
- Washington Sundar: Off-spinner Washington Sundar has taken 35 wickets in 15 Test matches. Of these, 21 wickets have come on home pitches.
- Akshar Patel: Off-spinner Akshar Patel has taken 55 Test wickets in 14 matches. He has taken 47 wickets in India.
- Kuldeep Yadav: Chinaman spinner Kuldeep Yadav is leading India’s spin department. He has taken 68 wickets in 15 matches. Kuldeep has taken 50 wickets in India.
5. Strong performance of Indian team on home pitches India holds the world record for most consecutive Test series wins on its home ground. The team had won 18 consecutive Test series from 2012 to 2024. This winning campaign was stopped by New Zealand last year. Then the Indian team had to face a clean sweep of 0-3. The Indian team had made a clean sweep in the 2-match series against West Indies last month.
6. Rishabh Pant returns, Dhruv Jurel in great form Wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant is returning to the Indian team. Dhruv Jurel is also in good form. Both the batsmen have performed brilliantly in the 2 unofficial Test series against South Africa A. Pant has scored 196 runs in 2 matches with the help of 2 half-centuries. Whereas, Dhruv Jurel scored 259 runs with the help of 2 centuries. He is the top scorer of the series.
