South Africa vs India 2018: 5 India players to watch out for in the Test series

#1 Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli will be back in action after a month's break.

Virat Kohli has had a couple of fantastic years. In 2016 and 2017, he’s churned out runs at will, he has started converting hundreds to double-hundreds (one area he was poor at until 2015), he has scored over 1000 Test runs in consecutive years and he’s led the side well taking some tough calls.

Virat Kohli the batsman is in supreme form at the moment. His last four Test innings have been quite magnificent. He has scores of 104*, 213, 243 and 50 in his last four innings in the whites. The way he goes about his business in the middle in Test match cricket is simply remarkable. He respects the conditions at the start and tries to settle in. He seldom tries to hit the ball in the air (in Tests) and his main strength is his ability to rotate the strike. Hence, at No. 4 Virat Kohli will be crucial.

Not only as a batsman, Virat Kohli the captain will also be key in this series. In fact, a few decisions might define the series. Before the start of the series, he needs to figure out the combination to go in with (4 or 5 bowlers). He also needs to take a call on who would be his first choice spinner and also decide on who his 3 pacers would be. Although this problem of plenty is good, Kohli would need to take a call and hence, his captaincy will also play a crucial part.