Quinton de Kock And Dean Elgar, ICC World Test Championship
Quinton de Kock And Dean Elgar (Image Credit: Twitter)

South Africa suffered an embarrassing 113-run defeat in the first Test in Centurion. They were bundled out on less than 200-run total twice in the Test match. South Africa has to win the second Test to stay alive in the series. It will be interesting to see if they bounce back well in the next Test. Here’s a look at our predicted playing XI of South Africa for the second Test.

SA vs IND: South Africa’s Predicted Playing XI vs India, India vs South Africa 2021-22, 2nd Test

Openers: Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram

Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram
Image Source: Twitter

Dean Elgar got out for 1 run in the first innings but played a terrific 77-run knock in his next innings. Going into the second Test, he will be the biggest bet for South Africa in the batting department.

Considering his form, Elgar ought to come up with a big knock in the do-or-die Test in Johannesburg. Aiden Markram didn’t look too good with the bat in the first Test. However, made 13 and 1 in two innings. South Africa would expect him to perform better in the next game.

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Middle Order: Keegan Petersen,  and Kyle Verreynne 

Rassie van der Dussen
Image Source: Twitter

Young Keegan Peterson played some scintillating shots in the first Test. He didn’t play the big knocks and it will take him some time to become a regular scorer for South Africa in Tests. And with Quinton de Kock no longer available in the Test, the onus for scoring the bulk of the runs will be on Rassie van der Dussen and Temba Bavuma.

Both need to convert the starts into big scores and help South Africa post decent totals on the board. In the absence of Quinton de Kock, Kyle Verreynne is likely to don the wicket-keeping gloves.

All-rounders: Wiaan Mulder and Marco Jansen

Marco Jansen
Image Source: Twitter

Mulder scored 13 runs in the match and went wicketless with the ball. Mulder couldn’t pick a single wicket with the ball in the match. Perhaps, he was unlucky to not have picked at least one wicket in the match.

The team would hope that he performs better with both bat and ball in the next game. His partner, Marco Jansen was preferred ahead of Duanne Olivier in the first Test. He bowled a brilliant spell during India’s second innings, picking 4 for 55 in 13.3 overs. He should be part of the playing XI for the next Test.

Bowlers: Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, and Keshav Maharaj

Kagiso Rabada
Kagiso Rabada (Image Credit: Twitter)

Lungi Ngidi was sensational in the first innings of the first Test. He picked as many as 6 wickets for 71 runs and followed it up with 2 wickets in the next innings. His ally, Kagiso Rabada bowled a lot of bad balls in the first innings but still managed to pick 3 wickets.

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He bowled much better during India’s second innings, claiming 4 for 42. The onus for picking the bulk of the wickets will, once again, fall on these two. Besides, Keshav Maharaj is likely to fill in as the spin-bowling option.