India vs South Africa 2019: 3 Reasons to eagerly look forward to the Test series

After a long time playing away culminating in India ended exerting their dominance on West Indies across all formats, Virat Kohli and co are about to embark on yet another home season. It's going to be a challenging and hopefully a rewarding home season.

South Africa is a team in transition and gave a very good account of themselves in the recently concluded T20I series that ended 1-1. Quinton De Kock led a very inexperienced Proteas side from the front as he stroked two flawless fifties in the series.

The visitors will be aware that the challenge now will be very different from the T20Is. They will be up against the No.1 ranked Test team India in their own den. The odds will be against them but South Africa are known to be good travelers, which is something the Proteas will be looking to continue.

India, on the other hand, were dealt a big blow ahead of the three match series when their strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out of the series due to lower back stress injury. Umesh Yadav has replaced him in the squad and it would be interesting to see India's team combination sans Bumrah.

With the onset of the ICC World Test Championship, every game holds immense significance. India were off to the best possible start by gaining 120 points from their series in the Caribbean. South Africa will kick start their journey when they face off against India at Vizag from October 2nd, 2019 onwards.

There are plenty of reasons to look forward to this series, here are some of them:

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#3 The return of Rohit Sharma into the Test team

Rohit Sharma will be back in whites as the opener for this series

After a string of disappointing performances at the top of the order, the selectors left out KL Rahul from the squad to face the Proteas. They included Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill in the squad. And Chief of Selectors, MSK Prasad, clearly mentioned that they are looking at Sharma as the opener in Test matches.

Rohit Sharma on his part hasn't done justice to his talent in the longest form of the game. A combination of factors such as recklessness, lack of proper technique etc. has seen him be on the fringes.

Sharma's record is actually pretty good with him having scored 1585 runs in 27 games at an average of 39.62. It's his inability to convert starts into big scores coupled with wrong selection of shots that has led to him being ignored. Also, Ajinkya Rahane and Hanuma Vihari have sealed their spot in the middle-order.

With him being given the complete license this series, can he turn around his career in red ball cricket? There is no denying the value he brings to the team from a leadership perspective for Virat Kohli. But will this decision to open the innings with Sharma pay off? And is it a long term solution to solve this problem?

One thing that can ease fans is that like Rohit Sharma, Virender Sehwag was batting at No. 6 slot before he was asked to open in Tests- and the rest as they say is history.

Also see - IND vs SA schedule 2019

#2 South Africa led by Faf Du Plessis would pose a big challenge

Faf Du Plessis leads a pretty talented team

South Africa are a team in transition, especially in ODIs. With multiple players missing due to injuries and some big guns not firing as expected, they had a very forgettable campaign in the recently concluded ICC Cricket World Cup. They would want to put that aside and start afresh.

Faf Du Plessis leads a Proteas side that's brimming with hope and talent. There's a nice mix of youth and experience in their batting lineup. Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Du Plessis, Temba Bavuma and Quinton De Kock offer the required experience. De Bruyn and Russie Van Dessen offer the much-needed spark of fresh energy in the batting.

Their bowling is led by the ever-impressive Kagiso Rabada who will be assisted by an extremely smart operator in Vernon Philander. It's their spin attack of Keshav Maharaj and Dien Piedt that can be a problematic area for them. India would fancy themselves against those two spinners.

Overall, the team looks buoyant and few of the players were part of the unofficial Test series between India A and South Africa A that was played recently.

So they would have got used to the conditions and would be raring to kick off their ICC World Test Championship on a strong note against India.

#1 The battle between Virat Kohli and Kagiso Rabada

Virat Kohli and Kagiso Rabada

It's always a pleasure to watch the best in the business go up against each other. Virat Kohli and Kagiso Rabada will face off against each other in the three-test series. Arguably, the best batsman across all formats Kohli would want to control this matchup against Rabada.

Without Jasprit Bumrah in India's squad, fans would miss out on seeing two world-class bowlers operate in the same game.

After losing out on his top spot from the ICC Test Rankings, it will be an added incentive for India's skipper to put up some big scores apart from leading and ensuring that his side performs well in favourable home conditions.

Kagiso Rabada had a fantastic IPL for Delhi Capitals earlier this year, but couldn't follow it up in the World Cup. He was well below his regular best in the big tournament.

He is fit and raring to go now and with Dale Steyn having retired from the longest form of the game, Rabada would be the leader of the bowling attack. He is a bowler who is capable of ripping through oppositions even on dull, placid pitches.

The battle between the likes of Rabada and Philander against India's top order would be intriguing to see. But the main focus will be the Kohli- Rabada face off. Who will come out tops?