India have shown all signs of a true champion side in recent times by showing great grit in winning in unfamiliar conditions. They beat Australia in Australia, they dazzled in England and now they have started in best of manners against South Africa. What a win that was in the first Test against South Africa in Centurion, a full day was washed out but the visitors managed to squeeze in a sensational 113-run win and they did so quite convincingly to lead the three-match Test series 1-0.
India captain Virat Kohli has every reason to be confident as his team can seal a historic Test series victory in South Africa when they face the hosts in the second Test at the Wanderers Stadium on Monday (January 3). The numbers bear out Kohli's optimism. India are yet to be beaten in a Test match at South Africa's premier cricket stadium and have a record of two wins and three draws since their first tour of South Africa in 1992/93.
But South Africa are still the home side, and while India were magnificent in Centurion, they also won a crucial toss that allowed them to bat on the only day of the Test match on which you'd rather have been a batter than a bowler. South Africa bowled poorly on that first day, particularly in the first session, but this was also partly down to rustiness. Lungi Ngidi, for example, came into the Test match without any red-ball cricket since June and any serious cricket since October, but was a vastly improved force from the second session on, finishing with match figures of 8 for 102.
However, the ground holds particularly happy memories for some of the Indian touring party.
India's head coach Rahul Dravid made his first Test century in a drawn match in 1996/97 and 10 years later captained India to their first Test win in South Africa.
Kohli gave a batting masterclass when he made 119 and 96 in a high-scoring draw in 2013/14 to enable India to set the hosts a seemingly impossible target of 458 runs to win.
In that match, though, South Africa came close to beating India for the only time in Johannesburg, making 450 for eight in a dramatic draw.
Kohli then led India to victory on a sub-standard pitch four seasons ago, a win he has highlighted as a "milestone" which gave the side the belief to follow up with a series win in Australia last January.
So, a series win in South Africa remains a final frontier for India, who now have the opportunity to wrap up an historic triumph with a match to spare.
India were superior in all departments at Centurion, although South Africa's fast bowlers came back strongly after a poor first day.
The home side's batting was inadequate against a well-disciplined Indian bowling attack.
The middle order is vulnerable in the absence of the now-retired Quinton de Kock, while the opening batsmen, captain Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram, have failed to stay together beyond the second over of an innings in South Africa's last three Tests.
The scale of the defeat in the first Test has presented the home camp with several headaches.
Olivier, who missed the first Test owing to a hamstring niggle and the aftereffects of Covid-19, is expected to be available for selection. This leaves South Africa with a decision to make over who to leave out. Marco Jansen wouldn't have made his debut in Centurion had Olivier played, but he showed, particularly in the second innings, why his bouncy left-arm seam is rated so highly. Wiaan Mulder didn't do much with bat or ball in the first Test, but playing a specialist bowler at No. 7 could be a gamble against this India attack. Keshav Maharaj, meanwhile, went wicketless in the first innings and unused in the second, but are South Africa prepared to go all-seam, and will the conditions in Johannesburg merit it? Kyle Verreyne, meanwhile, is set to take over the retired de Kock's keeping gloves.
South Africa will have to give it their all. Anything but a loss will keep them alive in the series. On the other hand, India will look to seal the series 2-0 at Wanderers. And if they manage to do this, it would be their first series win in the Rainbow Nation. With this, they will also become the first Asian Nation to win the Test series in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and England.
