SA vs Ind 2nd Test: India Eyes Sealing Historic Series Win in Johannesburg

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In the last two years, India has maintained their unmatched merit in the overseas Test series besides their amazing Test performance at home. They stunned Australia in their own country twice and beat England with a 2-1 lead in an incomplete Test series. Now, India is looking forward to creating another history by beating South Africa for the first time away from home.

India dominated in the 1st Test at Centurion leading to a 113-run firest-ever win against South Africa at the venue. On Monday, Kohli’s men will play at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg with an aim of dominating the hosts once again.

The Wanderers Stadium has always been the land of happy memories for India. In fact, India has never faced a defeat in the five-Test matches that have been played at the ground while they have witnessed defeat in 10 of 16 Tests played at other Portea venues.

In the pre-match press conference, Head Coach Rahul Dravid was reminded that he had scored his first-ever Test century at the Wanderers. Dravid also talked about how he led India in their first Test victory in South Africa at Wanderers in December 2006. 

South Africa is still in a transitional phase following a series of retirements of some of their key players like AB de Villiers, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander, Hashim Amla and then-captain Faf du Plessis. All of them played crucial roles in the 2-1 Test defeat in 2017-18 when India last visited the country. Recently, temporary captain Quinton de Kock also announced his retirement from Test cricket after the Centurion Test. 

South Africa batter Dean Elgar said that his players should now put on the “big-boy pants” to respond to team India’s challenge. “We have had a lot of hard chats. I did tell the guys the other day that I need to see action now,” Elgar said.

“Talk is cheap if you don’t have the reaction from those kinds of talks. They need to understand that Test cricket is bloody tough. You are facing some of the best bowlers in the world now. You need to put on your big-boy pants now and react to what has happened.”

It is less likely that there would be any changes in India’s current playing XI unless there is an injury. Even though the three big guns are yet to score big runs, if they fire in unison, the series will be a cakewalk for the Indians. 

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