South Africa's areas of concern heading into their tour of India

The South African team features many new faces and will be severely tested in subcontinent pitches

The three-month tour between India and South Africa starting this October is one of the most anticipated series this year as it will test the strength and endurance of both teams, who have come a long way this season.

India hasn’t played at home since November 2013 and will be looking to regain their winning momentum again, while the South Africans will want to improve on their performances of late as it hasn’t been up to the level that is expected from the world’s No. 1 side.

They need to step up their game if they are going to beat India in their own home turf and the Proteas playing-XI hasn’t been the most comprehensive or stable these last few months. Here are a few selection concerns for the visitors leading up to the Indian tour.

The keeping conundrum

Since recovering from an injury, Quinton de Kock’s performance has been dismal, which prompted to him being dropped for the New Zealand series. In fact, ever since AB de Villiers left the gloves for good and handed it to De Kock, his performances have been inconsistent.

South Africa have struggled to find a backup keeper and tried Dane Vilas for the Bangladesh tour. However, this doesn’t bode well for the South African wicket-keeping position, as there are still too many doubts with regards to De Kock’s form and Vilas’ contribution, as Vilas hasn’t proven his value yet.

Wicket-taking spin bowlers

The sub-continent is where spinners thrive and unfortunately for South Africa there isn’t an abundance of options to choose from. The Proteas have put their faith in Simon Harmer, who has only played Three test matches thus far taking ten wickets, seven in Cape Town and three in Chittagong.

Imran Tahir is the second choice spinner but hasn’t given match-winning performances in the longer format. Aaron Phangiso was included in the Bangladesh tour but hasn’t made his debut for the Proteas in Tests. South Africa relies heavily on their part-timers, JP Duminy, and Dean Elgar, to get the odd wickets, which isn’t always the best tactic.

Inability to get batsmen out

The South African bowlers struggled to make an impact in Bangladesh and they have struggled to adapt to the subcontinent pitches in the past as well. Vernon Philander hasn’t been getting the breakthroughs he was expected to and most of the pressure lies on Dale Steyn’s shoulders.

20-year-old fast bowler, Kagiso Rabada, was included in the Test squad for the Bangladesh tour, but like Phanigso, he hasn’t made his debut either. Starting on a good note is exactly what South Africa is going to need in order to defeat India at home and without getting their bowling in order to tackle the strong Indian batting line-up, it will remain a worry.

The number six batsman

The South African batting line-up is pretty much certain except for the role of the number six batsmen, which is currently taken by newcomer Temba Bevuma. Even though he has played decently, his performances haven’t lived up to the expectations the selectors were hoping for. Bevuma will be tested in this Test series and if he fails, South Africa would need to look for other alternatives.

Lack of bench strength

South Africa haven’t quite mastered or figured out the replacement issue, meaning who will come into the starting XI should one or two players get injured. Talented batsmen are waiting in the wing for their international debut, but do they have the ability to play in the testing subcontinent conditions?

The tour starts on the 2 October and ends on the 7 December with three T20I, 5 ODIs, and four Tests. This will be Hashim Amla’s first time captaining South Africa in India, as well as a first official tour for Bevuma, Harmer, Rabada, Vilas, Phangiso and Stiaan van Zyl to India.

Playing cricket in India is a whole together different story and if the South African newcomers cannot adapt, this series is going to be one-sided from the word go.