It’s not often that cricket fans get to witness Virat Kohli on one side and AB de Villiers on the other. Ravichandran Ashwin, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hashim Amla, Faf du Plessis and Dale Steyn among others, will all be part of the mouthwatering clash between the World Number 1 and 2 Test teams.
The Indian team is looking confident after winning nine Test series in a row, however, South Africa too have won six out of their last seven Test series. More importantly, the Proteas have recorded series wins in Australia and New Zealand.
Ahead of the first Test in Cape Town, starting Friday, here’s a comparison of form between counterparts in both the sides.
Kohli vs Du Plessis
Between the two captains, Virat Kohli is entering the series with a much better record in the last 12 months. Kohli had a poor run in the series against Australia, but he cashed in against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. The Delhi batsman scored a century in each of the three Test matches against Sri Lanka at home. Kohli also converted three of his centuries into double hundreds in 2016.
Faf du Plessis on the other hand, has recorded a fair amount of fifty-plus scores, but managed only one century. However, the century (135*) came in his last Test innings against Bangladesh in October.
Pujara vs Amla
When it comes to the two rocks of the teams – Cheteshwar Pujara is in much better nick than his counterpart at number three Hashim Amla. The Gujarat batsman finished 2017 as the second highest scorer behind Steve Smith (1,305 runs). When the Indian batting line-up struggled against Australia early in 2017, Pujara was the one who stood up with scores of 92 and 202 to bail the team out of trouble.
Hashim Amla scored two of his three centuries in 2017 against Bangladesh in October. The 34-year-old scored 137 and 132 in two Tests. Amla started the year with an innings of 134 runs against Sri Lanka in January before notching a couple of 80-plus scores against England in July.
Saha vs De Kock
South Africa’s Quinton de Kock finished as the best wicketkeeper (in terms of dismissals) in 2017. The 25-year-old recorded 50 dismissals – 13 more than the next best Jonny Bairstow and Wriddhiman Saha.
De Kock started the year brilliantly with the bat, scoring a century in his very first innings in Test cricket of the year. He scored 101 against Sri Lanka in January. De Kock scored a couple of nineties against New Zealand, and a couple of fifty-plus scores against England before hitting a run-drought. De Kock hasn’t scored a half-century since July.
Saha, too hasn’t had a great time with the bat, mostly because he has usually batted at number eight. However, he played a match-saving innings of 117 runs against Australia in March.
Umesh vs Morkel
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In the fast bowling department, South Africa’s speedster Morne Morkel had a better year than Umesh Yadav. Morkel picked up eight more wickets at an incredible average of 23.02. Morkel, who picked up four-fors against New Zealand and England, is entering this series after returning with figures of 5/21 in his last match against Zimbabwe.
Yadav, on the other hand, had an excellent series against Australia, picking up 17 wickets in four Tests, but since the series, Yadav hasn’t picked up more than two wickets in any innings.
Ashwin vs Maharaj
Within the premier spinners of the two sides, Keshav Maharaj has recorded a better average than Ravichandran Ashwin in 2017. However, Ashwin has picked eight more wickets.
Ashwin has ruled the cricket world in spin-friendly conditions. His most notable performance in 2017 was in the Bengaluru Test against Australia. India needed to defend 188 runs in the second innings and Ashwin was the one who stepped up with figures of 6/41 to help India win the match by 75 runs.
Maharaj, on the other hand, has had an incredible year on non-spin friendly conditions. The 27-year-old picked up two five-wicket hauls in two Tests in New Zealand. In his last Test against Zimbabwe, Maharaj returned with figures of 5/59.
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