Zak's Back For African Safari

India head to South Africa for a short visit, a visit that includes just two Tests.  This is indeed a shame for the match up between the No. 1 Test side and the No. 2 side deserves more than the bare bones minimum of two matches which qualifies as a series under ICC rules.

South Africa, along with Australia, is the last unconquered frontier for Indian Test cricket.  India a couple of years ago, on the back of an impressive run of wins at home, plus good performances overseas, reached the pinnacle of No. 1 in the ICC Test rankings.  But for the true Indian fan this gap in India's Test record places an asterisk against that No. 1 status.  It also places a similar asterisk against the record of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a Test match captain.  Dhoni and India's recent performance overseas has been abysmal to say the least.  India have lost eight straight matches in foreign conditons and stopping that losing streak is vital.

All of this seems to have motivated both the BCCI and Dhoni to treat this series as crucially important. The BCCI has taken the unusual step of approving the early arrival of the team including the Test specialists.  It also is reflected in the BCCI approving the selection of an expanded seventeen member squad for such a short series.  BCCI has also arranged for the ODIs which are much less important to be played before the Tests, and provide the team with match conditions to get used to South African conditions.  In other words they have left no stone unturned in their efforts to provide Dhoni with the men and resources to finally conquer this frontier. 

Case and point is the inclusion of Zaheer Khan in the squad, even though he has been stripped of his central contract with the Board.  Whether intentionally or not, the selectors probably did India and Zak himself a favor by not selecting him for the home series against the West Indies.  That allowed him to concentrate on playing first class cricket, where as Captain of Mumbai, he has been able to hone his fitness and skills in preparation for what for him must also be a crucial series.  This has led to a lean and mean looking Zaheer Khan, who is complacent no longer, and who now looks like a hungry tiger on the prowl for African prey.  In the meanwhile India also unearthed a young gem of a fast bowler in Mohammad Shami.  On paper at least India's pace quintet of Zaheer Khan, Mohammad Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, and Umesh Yadav seems a worthy match up to the pace battery the Indian batsmen are likely to face.  Add in the spinning and all round batting skills of the two Ravis, Jadeja and Ashwin, and India look a highly potent bowling side.

The batting is more of a worry as all of the stalwarts of the past, including the biggest of them all, Sachin Tendulkar, have left the scene.  The Indian batting looks very inexperienced, and the selectors may have missed a trick by leaving out Gautam Gambhir from the squad.  Last time in South Africa, Gambhir with three big fifties was the best opener on the Indian side, easily out performing Virender Sehwag and Murali Vijay.  This time Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan by the weight of runs behind them have been given the entire series with no competition to worry about.  The completely new look middle order of Pujara, Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Rahane and Rayudu looks good on paper, but is completely untested in pacy and bouncy South African conditions and therefore is the biggest worry.  However, in their favor, they are all in the prime or near prime of their batting years, and have the hunger for success that the old guard may have lost.  Plus they all field like demons, though it must be said that in Test cricket it is not so much the ground fielding that often makes the difference, but the catching, especially in the slips.  In that regard this group is also still finding their way. 

India and South Africa have played the last three series to 1-1 stalemates both in India and South Africa and that seems to be the odds-on favorite result this time around too.  However, it would not be out of the realm of possibility for India to win the series 2-0 or more likely 1-0, and if that occurs, Indian cricket fans will finally see one of the two unconquered frontiers for the Indian Test team fall under the Indian tri-color, and hail Dhoni and his men as heroes, who will be remembered in the same way that Wadekar and his men are still remembered today for their conquest of West Indies and England back in the early 1970s.