India vs South Africa, 1st Test: 3 players you must pick in your fantasy team

Team India will play their second Test series as part of the ICC World Test Championship against South Africa as Virat Kohli’s men gear up to host the Proteas for a three-match series beginning with the first Test at Visakhapatnam on October 2nd.

India sit pretty at the top of the ICC World Test Championship points table while South Africa, on the other hand, will be playing their first match of the championship. While the T20I series ended on a 1-1 draw, the longer format of the game will see a couple of new faces in both sides that could play host to some exciting action.

South Africa’s regular skipper Faf du Plessis joined the squad ahead of the Test series while India announced a star-studded playing XI, with the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha returning to the test fold after a long hiatus.

With a number of top-flight cricketers taking part in the opening Test match, fans of fantasy cricket could be in for a tough choice to choose and pick between the 22 players who will take to the field on the opening day of the game.

Here are three players who could be valuable fantasy picks for the opening Test.

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#3 Ravindra Jadeja

Ravindra Jadeja

When it comes to playing Test matches in Indian conditions, there is no left-arm spinner who can outperform Ravindra Jadeja. The Saurashtra-based all-rounder has played 26 Test matches at home from which he has taken 144 wickets at a bowling average of 19.71 and a bowling strike rate of 54.26, making him an imperative player in the Indian setup.

Besides his top skill with the ball, his batting average of 34.15 on Indian pitches add to his credential as a worthy all-rounder. To add perspective to his performance against South Africa in particular, the 30-year-old scalped 23 wickets the last time the Proteas visited India, which makes him a must-have player in any fantasy side.

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#2 Keshav Maharaj

Keshav Maharaj can prove to be the 'X-factor' player for the visitors

South Africa have a talented pool of players in the Test format and one of the most improved players from that pool is Keshav Maharaj. The South African spinner’s career graph has gone up since 2017, with skipper Faf du Plessis using his trump card to perfection. He has taken 94 wickets in his Test career so far, which includes five 5-wicket hauls and one 10-wicket haul.

The Durban-based spinner took 9 wickets in an innings during South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka in 2018 and proved that he could be a tough prospect to deal with in sub-continental conditions. With the conditions in Visakhapatnam expected to favor the spinners, Maharaj could be expected to pick up a whole lot of wickets.

#1 Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli is yet to score his first hundred in the ICC World Test Championship

India’s captain Virat Kohli is one of the best Test batsmen in the world, and he will look to record his first century of the ICC World Test Championship when he goes head to head with Kagiso Rabada and co.

Though Kohli did not have the best of times with the bat against West Indies, the Indian captain still holds the second position in the ICC Test rankings for batsmen. Talking about Virat’s batting numbers in India, the 30-year-old has played 33 Tests on home soil where he has aggregated over 3,000 runs at a mind-boggling average of 64.69.

His conversion rate from fifties to hundreds is also very high, which only goes on to add more value to his ability to contribute with the bat in hand.

The right-handed batsman could not score a single hundred in the previous home Test series versus South Africa but given that he has consistently maintained form for the last few series, Kohli could be due for a big knock in the upcoming Test.