Jittery India aim to stay afloat against daunting South Africa

Team IndiaOutplayed in the lungopener India will have to resolve a few selection puzzles and respond better to the sharp bounce when they square off against a redoubtable South Africa in the doordie second Test starting here tomorrow Indias record of nine consecutive series victories will be on the line from tomorrow after the hosts took a 10 lead in the threematch series by registering a 72run win in the first Test in Cape TownIt is only the second match in Indias 12Test long overseas schedule in 201819 and already they are faced with a mustnotlose situation in a bid to keep this series aliveSurrendering a 20 lead to South Africa will not dent their No1 ICC Test ranking but that will be of little consolation when the postmortem of the performance is done back homeIn order to get this Test off on the right foot the Indian team management will be looking to get their selection on the money On Thursday 48 hours before the first ball is bowled Team India held an intense practice session at the Supersport Park which lasted just under four hoursThe usual suspects went about their job in predictable manner Cheteshwar Pujara practiced catching at first slip Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma batted in tandem at the nets while Ajinkya Rahane stood a mute spectator for a major part of this session He did face some throwdowns from assistant coach Sanjay Bangar towards the end as did Shikhar Dhawan but neither of them faced any real fast bowlingKL Rahul Murali Vijay and Pujara batted in adjacent nets followed by Kohli and Rohit and then Hardik Pandya and Wriddhiman Saha pointing to another fivebatsmen lineup It is in keeping with the team managements belief that this was the optimal choice for the first Test never mind a lack of practice or collapsing for 135 in the second inningsRahul for Dhawan is the obvious change Overall the latter averages 4372 overseas in 19 Tests a touch more than his career average of 4262 29 matches Take into consideration his record in Australia New Zealand England and South Africa in singularity and this comes down considerably to 2781 11 TestsOn the South African soil alone this plummets further to 1800 in three Tests without a single halfcentury Hishighest is 29 on the 201314 tour These figures are worrisome in themselves let alone Dhawans poor shot selection in both innings of the first TestRahul in comparison allows for more solidity at the top given that he is comparatively a more technical batsman Alternately the RohitRahane conundrum isnt as simple The Indian skipper spelled out that this particular selection was based on form Despite Rohits twin failures 11 and 10 in Cape Town it doesnt make any sense for the thinktank to reverse this decision after just one matchThe other conundrum is regarding bowling attack Hardik Pandya is a shoein after his previous showing and it only leaves Kohli with four spots to play with This is where the pitch comes in On Thursday the track seemed a hard and bouncy one with only a little sprinkling of green grass quite unlike the one at Newlands There is a school of thought that a track replicating theone in the first Test could have seen India dropping the spinner altogetherInstead the good bounce and lack of lateral movement might just play well for batsmen on both sides It would surely bring in the spinner as the match progresses As such it remains to be seen if Kohli changes his pace combination On Thursday Umesh Yadav batted and bowled in the nets with vigourIshant Sharma having recovered from illness looked sharp as well The duo have played 115 Tests yet could again lose out to the onematch old Jasprit Bumrah if India retain their attack In comparison to the pensive Indian camp South Africa seemed at ease as they went about practicing for the second TestThe hosts only selection issue is in finding an apt replacement for the injured Dale Steyn Youngster Lungi Ngidi is a contender to make his Test debut on homesoil allowing the Proteas to replicate the fourman pace attack from the previous game Even so allrounder Chris Morris is more likely to get the nod South Africa are comfortable fielding a threeplusone frontline attacking formula yet Morris inclusion helps beef up both their batting and bowlingTeams from India Virat Kohli c Shikhar Dhawan Murali Vijay KL Rahul Cheteshwar Pujara Ajinkya Rahane Rohit SharmaWriddhiman Saha wk Hardik Pandya R Ashwin Ravindra Jadeja Bhuvneshwar Kumar Ishant Sharma Umesh Yadav Mohammed Shami Jasprit Bumrah Parthiv PatelSouth Africa Faf du Plessis c Deal Elgar Aiden Markram Hashim Amla Temba Bavuma Theunis de Bruyne Quinton de Kock wk Keshav Maharaj Morne Morkel Chris Morris Vernon Philander Kagiso Rabada Andile Phehlukwayo Lungi Ngidi Duanne OlivierMatch starts at 130 pm ISTCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go