South Africa v India - Series Preview

Both sides enter this three Test tour having won their previous series, but South Africa must be the firm favourites here, knowing that a victorious campaign will put them on top of the ATG rankings for the very first time. The Springboks' pace battery simply overpowered Australia last time out, and bearing in mind India's reliance on spin, we are likely to see more of the same here. In contrast, India's seamers struggled to make an impact in the recent series against New Zealand, and one feels that they will be relying on their batsmen to rack up some big totals in order to be competitive here.

The tour gets under way with a four day match in Bloemfontein against a South African Invitation XI; the home side will be made up of players from South Africa's 'isolation years', and the game should provide the tourists with a stern test ahead of the Test matches.

India's Squad
SM Gavaskar (c), VS Hazare (v/c), M Azharuddin, BS Bedi, CG Borde, BS Chandrasekhar, FM Engineer, Kapil Dev, SMH Kirmani, DG Phadkar, M Prabhakar, NS Sidhu, J Srinath, PR Umrigar, S Venkataraghavan, GR Viswanath.