India vs South Africa 2018: 3 things Team India needs to do on the Tour

Team India will go to South Africa for 3 Tests, 6 ODIs and 3 T20Is starting from January 5. The first encounter will be played at Newlands in Cape Town as India look forward to a first away Test series win in South Africa.

Virat Kohli will lead the team after a wonderful year in 2017 where they notched up wins in all bilateral series across formats, barring the one-off T20I against West Indies and the tied T20I series against Australia. Rohit Sharma also showed up his captaincy prowess during the home limited overs series against Sri Lanka..

It is to be noted that team India is placed on top of the ICC Test rankings above South Africa and has registered wins against top teams from England, Australia, New Zealand and the Islanders, Sri Lanka in their home season. After their best performance, Team India is now expected to register wins in the foreign soils. Here are few expectations that could come to the fore.

Top 3 should continue their prime form

No matter what the format is, Team India have got quality openers for both tests and limited overs cricket. Murali Vijay produced excellent scores in the past year especially during his comeback game after he was left out for KL Rahul. Vijay made the best of his chance after Shikhar Dhawan was rested later in the test matches with Sri Lanka.

Shikhar Dhawan on the other hand has been excellent in all forms of cricket especially after he made his comeback after a breakthrough 10th season of the IPL. Rohit Sharma recently scored his third ODI double ton and also his 2nd T20I century, therefore, he too is expected to do the same while run-machine, the Indian skipper, Virat Kohli is on another level across all format and is known to break records whenever he comes out to bat.

Middle order batsmen need to prove themselves

Manish Pandey made the best of his opportunity in the T20s

The middle order, in the limited overs squad, is a concern for team India as they are yet to find the right combination in last one and a half years. No player have established themselves at no. 4 whether it is Dinesh Karthik or Manish Pandey. What comes as a positive is that Manish Pandey has got hundreds to his name against quality teams on foreign soil. It will also be interesting to see at which position MS Dhoni bats under the captaincy of Virat Kohli and how many times Shreyas Iyer gets to play.

Even in the longer format, the lower middle order is a cause for concern. Cheteswar Pujara and Virat Kohli have been very good at no. 3 and 4 respectively. However, the recent form of Ajinkya Rahane at no.5 and the lack of international experience in Tests of seam-bowling allrounder Hardik Pandya are major worries ahead much of the much important foreign tour(s).

It is also to be noted that Kedar Jadhav will be back after he gets fit. He was left out of the year-end series against Sri Lanka after his hamstring injury.

Pace Bowlers will have to shine

Jasprit Bumrah will start his test career in 2018

If India is to win their first series in South Africa, they need to ensure that pace bowlers continue their dominance like they did in the previous year. The conditions will be different and bowlers like Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar need to deliver like they did it on so many occasions during the home season. Mohammed Shami needs to be fit while all eyes will be on Jasprit Bumrah as he will be making his test debut. However, team India might miss a left arm pace bowler if the above players leak runs at crucial junctures in the forthcoming test series.

In the limited overs game, the wrist spinners were superb during the home stretch but the conditions will not be this helpful in South Africa. In Tests, India will rely on their best spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja while young guns Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal will be seen in the blue jersey. The young pacer Shardul Thakur will need to be efficient in the few chances that he gets in the all-important SA tour.

It is also to be noted that team India played a few games on green pitches in the last series against Sri Lanka to prepare for the South Africa series.