South Africa vs India 2018: 5 players with most wickets in SA-IND Tests

The top two Test sides in the world, India and South Africa, are all set to lock horns with each other in a high-octane three-match series starting Friday, January 5.

The first Test will be played at Newlands, Cape Town followed by two five-day games at Centurion and Johannesburg.

India, who have been flawless in 2017 under the leadership of Virat Kohli, last toured South Africa in 2013-14.

The visitors have never won a Test series in the Rainbow Nation, but, they would like to set the record straight this time around.

Overall, the two countries have played 33 five-day games since 1992 with South Africa winning 13 out of them and India emerging victorious on 10 occasions.

Just like there is a lot of zest and fervour for the upcoming series, all the past encounters between India and South Africa have been quite intriguing as well. Players from both the sides have always tried to put their best foot forward to dominate the opposition as much as possible.

Now, let's have a look at five magicians, who top-performed with the ball, whenever India and South Africa took on each other.

#5 Allan Donald

Allan Donald, who was one of the deadliest fast-bowlers to have played the game, was absolutely lethal against India in the whites.

Although Shaun Pollock is the all-time leading Test wicket-taker for South Africa, The White Lightning was more successful in the longest format of the game against India.

The man, who claimed three ten-wicket match hauls in five-day games, played 11 Tests between 1992 and 2000 against India and claimed 57 wickets at an average of 2.37.

His best performance against India came when he claimed 12 wickets by giving away 139 runs in a 1992 Test at Port Elizabeth.

The Player of the Match rattled the Indian batting and led the hosts to a nine-wicket win.

#4 Harbhajan Singh

The most successful off-spinner produced by the country in terms of Test wickets, Harbhajan Singh, was an integral part of India's bowling arsenal before the arrival of Ravichandran Ashwin.

The first Indian bowler to take a hat-trick in Tests, Harbhajan played 11 Tests against the Proteas between 2001 and 2011.

The off-spinner, with second-highest Test wickets behind Sri Lanka's Muttiah Muralitharan, claimed 60 South African wickets in the longest format of the game at an average of 28.40.

His best performance against the Rainbow Nation came in a 2004 Test at Kolkata, where Harbhajan took 9 wickets by giving away 141 runs and the hosts won the game by 8 wickets.

#3 Dale Steyn

Dale Steyn, who is just five wickets away from becoming South Africa's all-time leading Test wicket-taker, is the only fast bowler to take five-wicket hauls against all Test playing nations.

Steyn, who played his last Test against India in 2015, has played 13 five-day games against this particular opposition since 2006.

The 34-year old is the most successful South African bowler against India as he claimed 63 wickets at an average of 21.41.

Steyn, who dominated the number one spot in the ICC Test rankings for a record 263 weeks between 2008 and 2014, gave his best performance against India in a 2010 five-day game at Nagpur.

Steyn claimed 10 wickets for 108 runs as the visitors won the game by a huge margin of an innings and 6 runs.

#2 Javagal Srinath

The second highest wicket-taker in India-South Africa Test encounters was the strike pace bowler for his country in his heydays.

The third most successful pacer for India in Tests after Kapil Dev and Zaheer Khan, Srinath played 13 Tests against South Africa between 1992 and 2001.

Currently an ICC Match Referee, Srinath took 64 South African wickets in Tests at an average of 24.48.

His most successful outing against the Proteas came in a 1996 Test at Ahmedabad where he took 8 wickets by giving away 68 runs as the hosts won the match by 64 runs.

#1 Anil Kumble

India's highest Test wicket-taker and third in the world, Anil Kumble, caused the maximum damage in the India-South Africa five-day games.

Kumble, who holds the record of bowling 40850 balls in his entire Test career, highest for an Indian and second highest overall, played 21 Tests against South Africa between 1992 and 2008.

Out of his 619 Test wickets, 84 came against South Africa at an average of 31.79.

The Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1996, Kumble recorded his best performance against the Proteas when he took 8 wickets for 113 runs in a 1992 Test at Johannesburg that ended in a draw.