India face an acid test in Duban Test
India face a daunting task to level the series when they take on South Africa in the second Test here Sunday.
The M S Dhoni’s side, battered by the South African pace battery despite Sachin Tendulkar’s iconic 50th century in the first Test on tour, has another fitness problem with Gautam Gambhir. He got a bruised left hand during practice here and is a doubtful starter.
Dhoni said toss will be one of the crucial factors in deciding the impact on the match. “It (toss) will be important,” he said, but added the wicket will also behave in the similar way throughout the Test match.
India were defeated by an innings and 25 runs at Centurion, and Durban Test would prove an acid test for World No cricket side.
India in their previous Tests here held a draw in 1992-93 and lost by 328 runs in 1996-97 and by 174 runs in 2006-07, a memory that will haunt them in next five days in the grassy pitch between Dec 26-30.
Zaheer Khan is set to replace Jaidev Unadkat for India.
India (probables): 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Rahul Dravid, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 VVS Laxman, 6 Cheteshwar Pujara / Suresh Raina, 7 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 8 Harbhajan Singh, 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Sreesanth
South Africa: (probables) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Alviro Petersen, 3 Hashim Amla, 4 Jacques Kallis, 5 AB de Villiers, 6 Ashwell Prince, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Paul Harris, 9 Morne Morkel, 10 Dale Steyn, 11 Lonwabo Tsotsobe / Wayne Parnell