South Africa Tour: Challenges ahead of Team India

Bangalore: The Indian team had gone right through the West Indian side in the Test matches where the Caribbeans surrendered without a shadow of a fight.  The series also brought an end to an era after the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar and this makes an interesting case for a couple youngsters, who will be eyeing for that all important No. 4 spot.

The upcoming series against South Africa in their own territory will not only make an intriguing viewing, but will make a lot of things clear as to which player is capable of doing what with the bat and ball in hand.

Can Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli live up to the expectations?

Overseas tours are not always easy and performing against all odds will reveal the character of the team. The upcoming tour therefore comes with a lot of challenges for the Indian side which will determine the Test status of the side for the next couple of years.

The entire batting line up of the Indian team, which is superior to any other side in the world on papers, will be put to test against the best of fast bowlers in fast and bouncy conditions, where the ball will talk more than the bat.

Runs will be hard to come by and a slight lapse of concentration can catch a batsmen off-guard. India in their last away tours had failed to put runs on the board and struggled against the pace and bounce of the wicket which resulted in humiliating drubbing in England and Australia.

This tour can be a very good indicator as to which way Indian Test cricket is going and whether the youngsters are ready to carry on the good work done by the likes of Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman over a period of time.

The slip catching will be very important as the ball tends to fly off the bat and comes at a different height than what you get in India. Slip fielding is a specialist’s job and Laxman, Dravid over the years had done wonderful for India in that position. Time will tell whether the replacements are ready for that spot or not, but nonetheless it is not less of a challenge to fill in such heavy boots.

The bowling has always been a concern for India and with Zaheer back in the side, it will help the youngsters as he is the only experienced bowler in the line-up.  Bowling in conditions which are helpful for the seamers can be difficult at times as it gets very tough to control the swing and also find the right length and Zaheer’s experience will come in handy under these circumstances.

The likes of Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav will have to get their act together along with Zaheer if India has to entertain any thoughts of picking of 20 opposition wickets without which it is impossible to win a Test match.

The team has to be mentally tough as the Proteas will come in hard and take all the opportunities that come their way, or else it can turn out to be a very long tour for the Indians.