INDIA VS SOUTH AFRICA

The series started exactly like everyone thought it would, with a green top. It clearly was a bowlers' paradise. Virat Kohli decided to go in with 5 batsmen and Hardik Pandya with Jasprit Bumrah making his debut. It was quite a bold selection. There was no room for Ajinkya Rahane which was a massive surprise for everyone. Later in the press conference Kohli went on to say that Rohit was picked ahead of Rahane on the basis of current form. Faf du Plessis made an interesting choice of batting first in dicy conditions. Bhuvaneswar Kumar gave India a dream start by picking Elgar, Amla and Markram in his first 3 overs. What followed was a brilliant counter attack from AB de Villiers which just grabbed the momentum away from India and South Africa ended up scoring 286 which was 40-50 more that what India might have expected. India had to play just around 12-13 overs in the final session and they lost a couple of wickets in quick succession. But the body blow came very late when Morne Mor...

Beautiful table mountain on one side and the sea shore on the other, there is no better venue to start the new year than the Newlands, Cape Town. Sun has been shining bright for the last few days in the southernmost city of South Africa. Newlands is generally a belter of a wicket to bat on. There will be a bit of movement early on in the first session but if they get through the first session without losing more than one wicket, plenty of runs will be on the cards. Bounce will be true so the players can play through the line of the ball, they can play pull shots and the square cuts. Spinners won't be as effective as they might be in Durban but they can extract a lot of bounce which might be an ally to them. India look the more settled side of the two. The combination according to me will be six batsmen plus wicket keeper plus three fast bowlers and a spinner. With the form he is in, Rohit Sharma is pretty certain to make the XI. The toss up will be between Ajinkya Rahane and Har...