IND vs SA: Sunil Gavaskar Picks India's Playing 11 vs South Africa For The First Test, Names One Massive Change

Former Indian legendary batter Sunil Gavaskar, who now works as a cricket pundit and commentator, has picked both Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin in his predicted playing XI for the 1st test of a 2-match Test series between India and South Africa set to take place at Centurion from December 26 onwards.

Other than the spinners, Sunil Gavaskar included 3 pacers to start on Boxing Day – Mukesh Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, and Mohammad Siraj in a Centurion track that heavily favors Fast Bowlers. In the batting department, Sunil Gavaskar backed Yashasvi Jaiswal to open with Rohit Sharma while Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli came in at number 3 and 4.

Sunil Gavaskar picks India’s Playing 11

Sunil Gavaskar diced the names of wicket-keeper KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer to feature in either number 5 or 6 while Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin came to bat at numbers 7 and 8 in Sunil Gavaskar’s team. With a few new faces in the team who will be playing their first-ever Test match in South Africa, India will be eager to get off to a solid start.

All of the players from Rohit Sharma to Mohammad Siraj will be playing for a common objective and that is not just to win a single Test match or so but they will be rather looking forward to clinching a maiden Test series win, something that has never been done before.

From Mohammad Azharuddin to Sachin Tendulkar and from MS Dhoni to Virat Kohli, the BCCI tried with different captains but none of them could overcome South Africa’s dominance at home soil. A record that Indian fans would not like to know is that since 1992, the Indian team has won only 4 Test matches in South African conditions.

In their last 8 tours, India have played a total of 23 tests in which they have unfortunately lost 12 times, and on 7 occasions, the match remained drawn. So, India has 10 days from 26 December to 30 December and from 3 January to 7 January to script history in South Africa.

All Eyes On Spinning Duo Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin

Interestingly for the Red-ball series against South Africa, Rahul Dravid has included only 2 spinning options – Veterans Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. Both of them are proven options in foreign conditions and they will have the onus of playing a key role in supporting the pacers first up at Centurion and then at Cape Town’s Newlands cricket ground.

If we talk about their numbers in South Africa then both Ashwin and Jadeja have somehow a decent record. Ravindra Jadeja has experience of playing only a single test match in South Africa, bowling 62 overs including 15 maidens, and picking up 6 wickets in his maiden appearance.

Ravichandran Ashwin on the other hand has played 6 Tests, bowling 182 overs but took only 10 wickets. To some, the stats of Ashwin might sound alarming but this is what India now has at the moment.

Both Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja will be making their first Test appearance since July when India defeated the West Indies away by 1-0.