India vs South Africa 2nd Test Match Playing 11, Full Squad: India will look to dust themselves off and put the Eden Gardens Test in the rearview mirror as they take on South Africa in the second Test at Guwahati on Saturday. The Indian team lost the Kolkata Test by 30 runs and to add to their misery, also lost skipper Shubman Gill due to a neck spasm which has ruled him out of the Guwahati Test.
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It’s confirmed that Rishabh Pant will be donning the captain’s mantle while Sai Sudharsan is likely to come back to the starting lineup in his preferred No.3 slot after sitting out the Kolkata Test. If Sai plays that would add another left hander in a team full of them which might play right into the hands of South Africa’s Simon Harmer who relished bowling against the hosts at Eden. This might lead to India tweaking their lineup a bit, introducing right handed allrounder Nitish kumar Reddy in place of Axar Patel.
South Africa, meanwhile, will probably go with the same team that pulled off the dramatic win at the Eden Gardens last week. One change they might be willing to make is swapping pacer Corbin Bosch with Lungi Ngidi. With Kagiso Rabada out, the Proteas might opt for the experience of Ngidi even if it means tweaking their match-winning formation.
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Predicted XIs
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Sai Sudharsan, Dhruv Jurel, Rishabh Pant (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel/Nitish Reddy, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
South Africa: Ryan Rickelton, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma (c), Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch/Lungi Ngidi, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj
Squads:
India Squad: Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Washington Sundar, Rishabh Pant(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah, Devdutt Padikkal, Sai Sudharsan, Akash Deep
South Africa Squad: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickelton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma(c), Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne(w), Marco Jansen, Corbin Bosch, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Zubayr Hamza, Senuran Muthusamy, Dewald Brevis