South Africa in India, Nov-Dec 2025

[PKBasu]

World Test champions South Africa will be touring India in the final two months of this year to play JUST TWO TESTs, 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is.

I think it is a travesty that South Africa will play only two tests. I hope something can be done to add another test at least. The first test is at the Eden Gardens, the second (surprisingly) at Guwahati. Will there be any crowd for the latter test, I wonder?

The ODIs will be at Ranchi, Raipur, and Vishakhapatnam. The T20Is at Cuttack, New Chandigarh, Dharamsala, Lucknow and (again) Ahmedabad.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

SA Test Squad :
Temba Bavuma (C), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Tony de Zorzi, Zubayr Hamza, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs and Kyle Verreynne

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Sai Sudarshan : 5 Matches Runs 273 Average 30.33
Devdut Padikkal : 2 Matches Runs 90 Average 30
Karun Nair ( after return ) : Matches 4 Runs 205 Average 25.62
Sarfaraz Khan : Matches 6 Runs 371 Average 37.10
Rajat Patidar : Matches 3 Runs 63vAverage 10.50

It will be important to see how Agarkar's favourite Sai Sudarshan gets picked in SA test series . If he deserved backing others should also be backed as they have also performed in domestic. Sarfaraz is ahead and Rajat Patidar is in great form in domestic

[prasen9]

I would like to see Jurel retained as a batter, Sai dropped. Jurel has performed well in various conditions. But, of course, death, taxes, and Sai in the test team are permanent. So, Jurel will be dropped, I think.

All of these are small sample sizes, their FC record is not. In FC cricket, Sai is the worst among this lot.

[prasen9]

For the South Africans, their best batters by record are:

Bavuma, Bosch, Rickleton, Muthusamy, keeper (Pretorius/Veryenne), Mulder, Bedingham, Markram

Interestingly, they have kept Bedingham out. Pretorius is the next of the precoccious keeper batters that RSA produces such as AB De Villiers, Quinton de Koch, etc. and openiing batter. They have chucked Bedingham out. Shukri says that he is out for the subcontinent (presumably because he is not a good player of spin) but Veryenne says that he is injured. A bit of a drama there. Will be interesting to see.

[prasen9]

So, Shami is not in the test team. Slimeballs will be slimeballs. They do not have the courage to call it whatever it is. Is Shami still unfit now? Or do you have some other agenda? Shami was better than Akash Deep in the last few games for Bengal. He does not bat better than Shami either. Shameful selection. Politics is back and alive.

Prasidh Krishna is a better bowler than Akash Deep with more upside and provides variety. If we want to go young, we should have had him. Absolute nonsense of a selectiion committee we have.

Nair's performance in England was not good enough. But Sai's continued failure is fantastic. Sarfaraz did not do enough but Padikkal despite all his failures is golden. These guys have no shame.

The final ignominy will be when they drop a performer like Jurel to get Sai into the XI. Guaranteed that is going to happen. They will say Jurel cannot bat at #3, which may be true, but it is not hard to reproduce Sai's meagre production. And, people have moved into unfamiliar positions and excelled. Sehwag used to bat at #4 but became an opener, etc.

We have not seen such a corrupt selection committee in some time now. Quotas are back.

[indiansportsfan]

I don't think there is any hidden agenda or regional bias etc, I think it is based on their gut feeling on what they feel is the upside of each player. For example, Akash Deep has been a match winner a few times already, like 1 time in England when he was fully fit; whereas Prasidh Krishna has been mostly a supporting bowler and never a match winner and further he is likely to be far less effective than Akash Deep in Indian conditions. Again the faith in Sai is based on their feeling that he is a long term prospect based on the eye test, but not being backed by performances. And a few times he has demonstrated his capability, but not consistently. I don't see the reason for keeping Paddikal in the squad, but he is a reserve anyway. Anyway we don't have good options right now for inducting into the test team, the A team pipeline was lacking, however with recent focus on A team, hopefully we will be able to identify the next set of players. Also I don't think Sarfaraz is the answer, he struggles in tough conditions, he is currently struggling in Ranji as well.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

I don't think there is any hidden agenda or regional bias etc, I think it is based on their gut feeling on what they feel is the upside of each player. For example, Akash Deep has been a match winner a few times already, like 1 time in England when he was fully fit; whereas Prasidh Krishna has been mostly a supporting bowler and never a match winner and further he is likely to be far less effective than Akash Deep in Indian conditions. Again the faith in Sai is based on their feeling that he is a long term prospect based on the eye test, but not being backed by performances. And a few times he has demonstrated his capability, but not consistently. I don't see the reason for keeping Paddikal in the squad, but he is a reserve anyway. Anyway we don't have good options right now for inducting into the test team, the A team pipeline was lacking, however with recent focus on A team, hopefully we will be able to identify the next set of players. Also I don't think Sarfaraz is the answer, he struggles in tough conditions, he is currently struggling in Ranji as well.

India A pipeline has become agenda of politics, favouritism and stage for push overs. Domestic performers are'nt considered, 15 member team is selected based on IPL and national team players who plays only longer formats.

[Prem]

Surprised to see that Karun Nair, who is averaging 166 runs in 3 Ranji matches this year after a reasonable performance in England (in my view in tough batting conditions coming in at number 3) can’t find a place in India or India A teams.
Also, the non selection of Mohd. Shami after he proved his fitness and has 15 wickets in 3 Ranji matches this season in either of the India teams….both could have played the India A game to see how they perform against the SA A team. Probably age and not form is deciding their fate.

[prasen9]

I don't think there is any hidden agenda or regional bias etc, I think it is based on their gut feeling on what they feel is the upside of each player. For example, Akash Deep has been a match winner a few times already, like 1 time in England when he was fully fit; whereas Prasidh Krishna has been mostly a supporting bowler and never a match winner and further he is likely to be far less effective than Akash Deep in Indian conditions. Again the faith in Sai is based on their feeling that he is a long term prospect based on the eye test, but not being backed by performances. And a few times he has demonstrated his capability, but not consistently. I don't see the reason for keeping Paddikal in the squad, but he is a reserve anyway. Anyway we don't have good options right now for inducting into the test team, the A team pipeline was lacking, however with recent focus on A team, hopefully we will be able to identify the next set of players. Also I don't think Sarfaraz is the answer, he struggles in tough conditions, he is currently struggling in Ranji as well.

At the end of the day the game is played in reality. And, the reality is that Sai has sucked in the test matches he got. Nair was better than him in England. Sarfaraz was better than him in the chances he got. Ditto for Jurel and Padikkal. Good to see you picking and choosing small sample of games. So, Sarfaraz has struggled in Ranji. By that token, so has Akash Deep. Shami has performed better. If we want to go with a few Ranji matches, Karun Nair has performed very well. I get it. According to you, one should ignore reality and go by gut feeling. Sorry, but, imho that is height of stupidity. We have paid the price in the home ODI WC and we will pay the price for such partiality.

We can call it what we want "gut feeling" or partiality or quota. There is a clear hidden agenda. That to give undeserved chances to people they like: Akash Deep, Sai Sudarshan and Padikkal. In the A-team, Khaleel Ahmed. Performance or lack of it be damned. In the last 10-20 years, we have succeeded because people did not come in to push the case of their favorites over performers. Shami, Mukesh, Sarfaraz, Nair do not deserve the chances. Their favorites need to be given as much chance as possible.

I completely deplore your method of backing players and then cherrypicking performances of others in a few matches while ignoring persistent failures by some of these undeserving backed players. Why are you pointing out Rinku's lack of form in a few matches, but quiet when he hits form? Why are you pointing our Sarfaraz's failures but ignoring Nair's golden form? Why are you ignoring Shami's performance in the few Ranji matches and ignoring Akash Deep's relative failure? Because your views are similar to the selectors. You want undeserving players to be rewarded and performers to be ingored. I categorically deplore that.

Prasidh Krishna was as much instrumental in our win in England. So, Akash Deep is a match winner because of 1-2 performances. But, what about the matches where he was abjectly bad and caused us to lose matches? Why should we only cherrypick the matches where your favorites won matches and not where they lost us matches? PK is younger than Akash Deep and has more potential. He has performed in India. So, it is flat out wrong to say he cannot bowl in Indian pitches. The only thing is AD is a better bat. If that is so, then why not Shami. Shami is about the same with the bat as is Akash in the matches they played for Bengal.

Choosing favorites and ignoring deserving candidates who have performed is deplorable. I do not care what you call it "gut feeling" or "eye test" or whatever. Cherrypicking a few matches of whom you want to drop and a few matches of whom you want to select is the height of nonsense. By that token, one can say anything. Karun Nair is better than Tendulkar if we are free to choose one innings from each's career. No player ever has succeeded in all Ranji matches they played. Every player has had 2-3 matches where they have failed. When you pick these short spans, then you are basically partial. You have a hidden agenda and want to push your favorites. So, you are cherrypicking evidence that suits your pre-determined biased way.

This is what is maddening about Agarkar. He tries to justify his choices as objective. He said we expected more of Nair. Okay. We did. But, what about Sai? Why does he expect so little of Sai and so much of Nair and Sarfaraz? If you are going to pick your favorites, at least have the courage to say that aloud that whatever they do in the field is irrelevant. He wants to pick Sai and not Nair and Sarfaraz and he has the power; so he will do it. Others can go take a hike.

He said for so long that Shami was unfit. Etc. Which were blatant lies. Shami showed him up. Now, what is the excuse for these lies? If you want to pick and push your favorites, at least do not lie. Total scumbags these selectors.

[Rajkumar Sharma]

Dhruv Jurel for India A average 74 in Australia and 56 in England. Except him, all were either bits & pieces or failures. Suthar,Kotian , Dubey needs to pick wickets in SENA to demand a place in side. There are many names who can play for national team by performing in domestic in home conditions

[prasen9]

We will see Sai being preferred to Jurel, who has always performed. Because the selectors darling will always be selected irrespective of performance. Jurel's 100+ will go to vain. When Sai fails that should not be considered. If he wins a match in a 2-3 years that will be counted as matchwinning innings and he will be continued. Ditto for all selector's darlings. Akash Deep and Siraj if they fail match after match, they will not be considered. Only their successes will be used to show they are true match winners. Such is the selection policy of the Indian selectors. I am not saying Siraj does not deserve a place in the XI on a pitch that fast bowlers have something, unlike Akashdeep. I am saying when Siraj succeeds it is hyped a lot while when he fails in several matches in a row, people keep quiet.

Good to see Kuldeep bat 88 balls. Good to see Akashdeep take some wickets. We need consistency from these fringe players.

[karr]

Our pacers have begun really well. Its awesome to see the trio of Siraj, Akash Deep and PK all pick up wickets. Lets see if the bowlers are able to sustain their impact for the rest of the innings.
I too think it should be Jurel over Sai, on the basis of what we have seen over the last 6 months. Sai should go help the TN Ranji team and thus help himself for the long run. He will be a better test match candidate by proving himself in the Ranji's. OTOH, Jurel's results in these first class games speak for themselves. Sai did score well against Aus A. Both Sai and Jurel were below average in that last Ind Eng 5th test.
That said, if they take Sai in this series and he continues his 30ish average, I hope that would make it obvious that he isn't cut out for test match cricket, not until he proves otherwise in domestics. Yes, its crazy that we need sustained failures from blue eyed darlings and that it has to come at the cost of results for India, but that's unfortunately how the Indian system works. A truly meritocratic setup, even allowing for "potential" would not work this way, but what else can we do other than lament

[prasen9]

We need to speak out until they are not a burden on the team and costing us matches. Given that Sai is going to get matches even though he is the worst among the current batsmen, I hope he turns a corner fast and starts scoring runs.

[rocobaroco]

Our pacers have begun really well. Its awesome to see the trio of Siraj, Akash Deep and PK all pick up wickets. Lets see if the bowlers are able to sustain their impact for the rest of the innings.
I too think it should be Jurel over Sai, on the basis of what we have seen over the last 6 months. Sai should go help the TN Ranji team and thus help himself for the long run. He will be a better test match candidate by proving himself in the Ranji's. OTOH, Jurel's results in these first class games speak for themselves. Sai did score well against Aus A. Both Sai and Jurel were below average in that last Ind Eng 5th test.
That said, if they take Sai in this series and he continues his 30ish average, I hope that would make it obvious that he isn't cut out for test match cricket, not until he proves otherwise in domestics. Yes, its crazy that we need sustained failures from blue eyed darlings and that it has to come at the cost of results for India, but that's unfortunately how the Indian system works. A truly meritocratic setup, even allowing for "potential" would not work this way, but what else can we do other than lament

I get what you're saying, and I feel the same. The pacers look sharp right now, and I hope they keep that same intensity through the innings. About Jurel vs Sai, I also pick Jurel at this stage. Jurel has shown maturity and composure in tough situations, while Sai still looks like he needs more time in Ranji to build his game.