In the iconic Bloemfontein match marking Virender Sehwag's Test debut, he wreaked havoc on South Africa's formidable bowling lineup which is still vivid in everyone's memory. During the 2001 Test series opener, cricket great Sachin Tendulkar delivered an outstanding performance, scoring 155 from 184 balls. Sehwag, debuting as a middle-order batter, made an impressive 105 off 173 balls. Despite Sehwag's debut century, India faced a heavy nine-wicket loss to South Africa.
Now, under Rohit Sharma's leadership India are set to continue their World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-2025's journey with the series opener against South Africa which is slated to kick off from December 26. Rahul Dravid, who opened with Shiv Sunder Das in the 2001 series, returns to South Africa as the head coach. In a notable return, captain Rohit will play his first international match since the ODI World Cup 2023 final. The all-format Indian captain is set to open with the promising batter Yashasvi Jaiswal in the first Test at Centurion's SuperSport Park.
Similar to Sehwag, young gun Jaiswal made a remarkable entry into Test cricket by scoring a century in his debut match. Jaiswal hit an impressive hundred against the West Indies, becoming the first Indian batter since Sehwag to achieve a Test century outside Asia in his first game. As Jaiswal heads to South Africa for his next major test, former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has said that expecting a century from the star Rajasthan Royals player in the Boxing Day Test would be unreasonable.
"Extremely different challenge, pace attack and situations because the West Indies have subcontinental-type wickets. Here, when you will play Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi or Nandre Burger, there will be bounce. Yashasvi Jaiswal has the game, both front and back foot, but it will be a very different challenge. I believe he will get better with this experience. Don't expect too much, that a young player will come and score a century or a double century in the first match," Gambhir told Star Sports.
The upcoming Boxing Day Test will mark Jaiswal's third appearance in a Test match for India. In his initial two outings with Rohit's team, the 21-year-old has accumulated 266 runs. With one century and a half-century across his three Test innings, the young Indian opener has made a notable impact. Additionally, India's batting strength is further bolstered by the presence of Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, and KL Rahul.
"He might do that (score a century) as well but even if he scores 25-30 runs and gives a start to India, he will head home after becoming a better player, whether it is Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill or Shreyas Iyer. Ten-15 years ago, we never used to scrutinise the players so much when they used to go on their first tour to South Africa or Australia. If a young player goes to South Africa or Australia for the first time now, he faces as much criticism as he would have faced if he hadn't scored runs in India," Gambhir concluded.
Under the captaincy of Rohit, Indian team is determined to end their series losing streak in Tests on South African soil. Despite touring South Africa since the 1992-93 season, the Indian team has yet to clinch a Test series win there. Rohit, though he missed the chance to be among the few Indian captains to win the ODI World Cup, has the opportunity to forge his own legacy in South Africa.
India's Test Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wk), Abhimanyu Easwaran.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK:
Former Rajasthan Royals' star files police complaint after ex-girlfriend threatens him to end his cricket career
'Want to achieve what nobody has achieved in South Africa: Rohit Sharma makes his intention clear ahead of 1st Test
Watch: Rohit, Virat and India's other batters unleash trademark shots in training ahead of Boxing Day Test; video viral
'That's going to be a big challenge for Rohit Sharma': Sunil Gavaskar gets candid about 'Hitman' ahead of 1st Test against South Africa
