Litmus Test

AB DE Villiers vs MS Dhoni

 The time has finally arrived. Indian Team is going to South Africa for their ultimate series. They are entering the series by winning six ODI series on trot and being undefeated in Tests this year. The question that everyone has in their mind is that will the winning streak continue in South Africa or the fairy tale is going to end in a harsh manner. If it continues, it will be an historic series and MS Dhoni will become the first Indian captain to do something which none of his predecessors had ever done, that is, winning series against South Africa in South Africa.

India is entering the series as favourites with the consecutive series victory as mentioned above and with South Africa suffering their first series defeat against an Asian country, India indeed has an upper hand going into the series, but one must not forget that South Africa on a bouncy track are totally different team. I personally feel that the main test for Indian team will be their batting. The batting line up which has played brilliantly on flat decks, can they cope up with the bouncy and green pitches of Africa, and is the question in every expert’s mind. I’m not writing too much about Indian batting because we all know what our batsmen are capable of on any given day. For most of the Indian players, it’s their first tour to South Africa. This tour will kick off the year long abroad tours for India and this particular tour will help in shaping the core of Indian team, post The Sachin Tendulkar era.

Greame Smith vs MS Dhoni

In the next 12-15 months, India will be touring SA, New Zealand, England and Australia. India will play 15 tests that include 2 each in SA and NZ, 5 in England and 4 in Australia. All these countries have bouncy, green pitches that provide sharp early movements with Kookaburra balls. Moreover this is India’s first full tour (albeit it’s short) after their debacle in Australia 2011/12. India indeed had toured to various countries but they were their either to play an ODI tournament or bilateral ODI series.

Everyone knows that India cannot win the series just on the basis of their batting. The bowlers need to perform well. They were below par against the Australians and at par against the West Indians. The coming of Zaheer Khan can seriously boost the morale of players like Ishanth Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who are down in their confidence and can give them priceless advice. As litmus paper sets apart acidic and basic solutions, similarly, this tour will set apart extraordinary players from the ordinary ones.

We have never defeated South Africa in their home ground. Probably, this time around we have a tremendous chance of winning the series. We can be the second Asian team to defeat them. Last time we toured SA we missed the target, but not by much. This time we have the ability, power, skills and potential to cross the line. As Virat Kohli said during the presentation that they are hungry for runs shows that the young bloods are itching to get on the field against the Proteas. Indeed, India’s tour of South Africa will be the LITMUS TEST for the players.