All eyes on Kotla track as India aim for second spot in Test rankings
The Feroz Shah Kotla pitch will be in focus as India and South Africa prepare for the fourth and final Test match of the Freedom series, which is scheduled to start on Thursday in Delhi. The home team defeated the Proteas in the third Test by 124 runs to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series, and ended the visitors' nine-year undefeated streak in away Test series.
The final Test will provide the South Africans with their last chance for redemption, and India with a chance to move up to the second place in ICC's Test rankings if they manage a 3-0 series win.
The third Test match ended in just three days making it the fifth in the last six completed Test matches in India to have ended within three days. The ICC joined the chorus of criticism yesterday when the Match Referee report rated the Vidarbha pitch as 'poor'. The curators of the Kotla pitch will now be in a precarious position of having to make a pitch which will not attract too much criticism, while also helping the Indian spin attack.
The fourth Test will be a special occasion for Indian skipper Virat Kohli as he started his cricketing career at this ground. The 27-year-old has scored a lot of runs on this pitch for his Ranji team and also in the international and IPL formats.. Kohli will hope that the ground proves to be lucky for him once again, as he is in desperate need of runs at the moment.
The Indian skipper has scored just 188 runs in his last nine innings and will look to spend more time at the crease. In fact, other than Murali Vijay, who has scored 195 runs in this Test series so far, and Cheteshwar Pujara, none of the other Indian batsmen have been able to make any significant impact.
The phenomenon has not been limited to the Indian side, as batsmen of both the teams have struggled in the series. Vijay, Pujara and AB de Villiers are incredibly the only three batsmen with scores of more than 50 in the series so far – which also proves how skewed the contest between the ball and the bat has been.
As everyone eagerly waits for the pitch to be uncovered on the first day of the final Test, a look at the history of the ground does not provide too much hope for anything other than another rank turner.
Back in 2009, the Feroz Shah Kotla did not host an international cricket match for a period of 12 months after an India-Sri Lanka ODI was abandoned due to an "unfit" pitch. By nature, this historic stadium has mostly produced slow tracks, which do not provide too much bounce.
Indian spinners, who have picked up 47 of the 50 South African wickets which have fallen so far, are once again likely to enjoy a good outing. The only selection headache for the Indian team management would be whether to field an extra batsman or an extra bowler – Rohit Sharma's place in the team depends on that decision. Virat Kohli has also hinted in the press conference that despite winning the series, they will not experiment with the team too much.
South Africa will once again be without their star bowler Dale Steyn, and Morne Morkel will again have to shoulder the responsibility of leading the new-ball attack. The Proteas could make a few changes to their batting line-up considering how the regulars have performed during the first three Tests. The display of Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis in the fourth innings at Nagpur will provide them with some hope though, ahead of this game.
Probable line-ups:
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma
South Africa: Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma, Hashim Amla (captain), AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis, JP Duminy, Dane Vilas (wk), Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir
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