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SA vs IND | Expecting Kohli to return for series decider, Dravid urges Iyer- Vihari to bide their time

After facing a stunning defeat in the second Test of the series against South Africa, India are expecting their skipper Virat Kohli to return for the third and final Test of the series scheduled to start on January 11.

India head coach Rahul Dravid hinted that Kohli has been recovering well from the back spasm that ruled him out of the second Test and said that a few net sessions will give him enough time and preparation to walk out to lead the side in Cape Town.

"From all accounts, he should be fine. He's had the opportunity to run around a little bit, he's had the opportunity to test it a little bit, I'll be down only now at the moment in the nets with a few throwdowns and stuff, so hopefully, with a few net sessions in Cape Town, he should be good to go," Dravid said.

"I haven't had a detailed discussion with the physio as yet, but from everything I'm hearing and from just having a chat with him, he's really improving and should be good to go in four days' time."

Once Kohli will be set to play the final Test, India will be back to contemplating the team combination and composition of their middle order. Kohli’s injury had made way for Hanuma Vihari’s entry into the playing XI for the first time since the third Test of the series against Australia at the start of 2021.

One of him or Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara will have to make way for Kohli and as India made a choice of backing the experienced duo, it could mean another axing of Vihari, despite strong performance with the bat. 

Add to that, they also have to consider the candidature of Shreyas Iyer, who hit a magnificent century on his Test debut but could not find a place in this series. 

Dravid said that both Vihari and Iyer are at the start of their career and it is obvious to go through the phase of stop-start while also acknowledging that their role with the bat has been immense in India’s good performance in the recent past.

Dravid highlighted those young players will have to bide their time as the senior players who are getting the nod ahead of them also had to go through the same process and hence they will have to wait for their opportunities.

“Firstly I think Vihari played really well in this Test match, in both innings in fact," Dravid said. "I think in the first innings he got a nasty one, unfortunately for him it popped up and the fielder got his fingertips to it and took a really good catch, and he batted beautifully in the second innings, so that gives us a lot of confidence.

"Shreyas has also done that two or three Test matches ago, he's got runs as well, and I think they've just got to take heart from the fact that whenever they're getting the opportunities they are doing well, and hopefully their time will come. You look back on some of our guys who are now considered senior players, they also had to wait their time.

"They also had to score a lot of runs, they've had, at the start of their careers, it's probably been a bit stop-start as well. So it happens. It's just the nature of the sport, it's the nature of the game, and it will happen, so I think they can take heart and we can take a lot of confidence from the way Vihari batted in this game, he really played well, that should give him a lot of confidence, and it certainly gives us a lot of confidence."

India squandered their early advantage in the second Test as South Africa came roaring back in the series and Dravid would hope that the batsmen will put their hands up once again as they did in Centurion in the series decider in Cape Town.

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SA vs IND | 2nd Test, Day 4: Elgar defies pitch, quality pacers to lead Proteas' roaring comeback

South Africa stunned India and chased down the target of 240 runs with seven wickets in hand to draw level the three-match long Test series. Skipper Dean Elgar led from the front and hit the winning runs, reaching 96 to lift Proteas to their first win over India at the Wanderers. No one would have given them any chance after India set them the target of 240 runs albeit by stumbling and hence, Dean Elgar made it almost look like that he said the Indian bowlers that they could achieve victory only by passing over his body. Jasprit Bumrah threatened him with the bouncer, Ravichandran Ashwin threatened him with his guile and drift while Mohammad Shami and Shardul Thakur kept on challenging him outside off stump, but Elgar was both resilient in absorbing the relentless attack and also confident in his defence to not get fed up by a barrage of unplayable deliveries. He was also not lured into playing expansive shots and resisted adopting the philosophy of batting that suggests pitches such as the one at Wanderers present an unpayable delivery that has a batsman’s name on it. He treated the ball on its merit and never offered straight bat at deliveries outside except when things started to fall apart for India on the fourth and final day. Coming into the fourth day, the goal was simple and clear for both sides. India needed to strike and strike regularly to make the remaining 122 look like a lot more while the Proteas wanted to chip away the required run. The Test had shown a trend of fluent scoring in the first hour on each playing day and it continued on the fourth day despite delayed start and loss of play till the tea interval. India continued to search for wickets and tried too many things on the surface where they needed to bang in on the good length and left everything on the fortunes. They offered a plethora of short balls and played with the ego of both Elgar and Rassie van der Dussen and the natural variation off the pitch that could have been their weapon on the day, turned against them as they offered wides that sailed over the wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant’s head. India opened the tap and South Africa cashed in with 52 runs in the first 11 overs of the day and the target was trimmed to a point where Elgar and Rassie could see the pressure on Indian bowlers. The right-hander, in particular, attacked short balls and by the time India switched back to doing the basics right, the Proteas were out of the woods and the hosts were in with a real chance of achieving what no one could hope they would be pulling off. Shami finally found a delivery that shaped away off the pitch and took Rassie’s bat but Temba Bavuma was the best man to come out for the Proteas and he batted with supreme confidence and control to not allow too many opportunities. Shardul Thakur could have been that man for India once again but his act of being human by missing a catch of Bavuma’s bat emphasized it was not to be India’s day and Elgar thumped Ashwin to samp his authority on the game and announced a roaring come back of the Proteas in the series.