Big picture: India chasing history
The final frontier. This is what South Africa has proved for India. Since South Africa’s readmission to international cricket, India have made eight Test tours of the country. The closest they came to winning was in 2010-11 when the three-game series ended 1-1.
This time it’s a shorter series, just two Tests – in Centurion and Cape Town. Whichever team wins first will have an undisputed lead. With the disappointment of the ODI World Cup lingering even with the T20 World Cup planning on the mind, can India squeeze in a piece of history in the interim?
The challenge for South Africa will be to get into the Test groove as quickly as possible – they last played red-ball cricket in March. This is also their first assignment in the current cycle of the World Test Championship. India started theirs in the West Indies, where they won the first Test before rain forced a draw in the second.
And the threat of rain looms large in Centurion as well. Rain is forecast for the first two days of the Trial.
Form guide
South Africa WWDLL (Last five tests, most recent first)
India DWLDL
In focus: Aiden Markram and KL Rahul
Team news: Shardul Thakur or R Ashwin?
Kagiso Rabada (bruised heel) and Lungi Ngidi (sprained ankle) have recovered from their respective injuries and should feature in the starting line-up. Keegan Petersen was the player of the series when India last toured South Africa, but his stock has plummeted since then and he will compete with the uncapped David Bedingham for a place.
South Africa (probable): 1 Dean Elgar, 2 Aiden Markram, 3 Tony de Zorzi, 4 Temba Bavuma (capt), 5 David Bedingham/Keegan Petersen, 6 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 7 Marco Jansen, 8 Keshav Maharaj, 9 Gerald Coetzee, 10 Kagiso Rabada, 11 Lungi Ngidi
India (probable): 1 Rohit Sharma (captain), 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Shubman Gill, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 KL Rahul (wk), 6 Shreyas Iyer, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Shardul Thakur/R Ashwin, 9 Jasprit Bumrah, 1 Prasidh Krishna, 11 Mohammed Siraj
Step and conditions: It is the fortress of South Africa
Stats and trivia: Kohli stands tall
Quotation marks
“Playing against India comes with a lot more eyes and a lot more scrutiny on what we do. So he accepts that. And the other, the most obvious one, is the skill factor on the field. For me as a batsman, the bowlers will they put you under pressure and their attack, they have famous players and lads who have played in all conditions, they are also a determined team, they want to be able to say they have won a test series here in South Africa [India having] that extra push and motivation, we’ll really need to be at our best.
Temba Bavuma on the challenges of playing against India
Hemant Brar is a deputy editor at ESPNcricinfo