India suffered a massive innings and 32 runs defeat in the first Test of the two-match series and will hope to level the series with a win in the second Test which starts on Wednesday at Newlands, Cape Town. Having suffered a crushing defeat, all eyes will be on what sort of team combination captain Rohit Sharma and coach Rahul Dravid opts for.
However, everything suggests that India will not be making a lot of changes with a maximum of one or two players expected to be dropped. Prasidh Krishna had a poor debut Test and while many expect him to make way for Mukesh Kumar, Rohit has suggested that he may stick with the Karnataka pacer.
“Like I said in the last post-match press conference [in Centurion] about Prasidh [Krishna] playing his first game, we all get nervous when you are playing your first game. It’s understandable, but I thought, and I’ll still back that thought of mine, that he’s got a good ability to succeed at this level and especially in this format. So it’s just about showing faith and trust in everyone and getting the job done from them,” Rohit had said on the eve of the game.
If Prasidh sits out then India can bring in Mukesh Kumar or Avesh Khan.
We, however, expect India to bring in Ravindra Jadeja for R Ashwin. Jadeja missed the first game due to a back spasm and is now fit to replace Ashwin who had an underwhelming match at Centurion.
Shardul Thakur is also expected to stay in the playing XI to continue providing India a pace-bowling all-rounder option.
India’s predicted XI for the second Test vs South Africa: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna
South Africa predicted XI: Dean Elgar (c), Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Keegan Petersen, David Bedingham, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Nandre Burger.
India vs South Africa 2nd Test Predicted XI: Mukesh Kumar to replace Prasidh Krishna?Read More
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