Armed with a potent spin attack, taking on South Africa seems like competing against a "subcontinent team", Ten Doeschate said, admitting that they need to get better at negotiating the challenge posed by tweakers.
India vice-captain Rishabh Pant is understandably delighted to have made a difficult comeback from the latest injury setback.
Bavuma believes this group, unbeaten in full-strength Test series since coach Shukri Conrad took charge in 2023, has the maturity and belief to mount a serious challenge and win their only second series in India after 25 years.
India won their maiden Women's World Cup title with a 52-run victory over South Africa at the DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.
Mandhana led the Indian charge at the top, and her partnerships with opening batter Pratika Rawal created quite a buzz in the showpiece event.
A Test match in India usually starts at 9:30 am and the day's play ends at 4:30 pm, while the game in Guwahati will begin at 9 am and end at 4 pm.
The collapse, India's lowest failed chase at home, has left behind deeper fault lines than a dry Eden Gardens wicket can conceal.
With the scars of last year's home series whitewash against New Zealand still raw, preparing rank turners may invite risk.
Defending champions India will open their campaign against USA in Mumbai on February 7 before facing Namibia in Delhi on February 12.
Ahead of India's opening Test against South Africa, head coach Gautam Gambhir made a spiritual stop at Kolkata's iconic Kalighat Mandir, seeking blessings before the start of the two-match series.
India offset the decline in exports to traditional destinations by sharply ramping up shipments to Jordan (18,086 per cent), Hong Kong (17,006 per cent), Spain (13,436 per cent), the Philippines (2,235 per cent), and Namibia (1,068 per cent) in H1FY26.
Abhimanyu Easwaran made the future path all the more tough with his second duck of the match, while Sai Sudharsan concluded his lukewarm preparation for the South Africa Test series with an underwhelming 23 off 38 balls.
Marco Jansen's dream Test continues; flurry of records shattered in Guwahati
Former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara on Thursday stressed that each and every bilateral assignment will be "very important" now for stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma as India look ahead to the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Smriti Mandhana's haldi ceremony transformed into a lively gathering filled with colour, laughter and camaraderie, as her Team India mates joined her to mark the special occasion.
'The Women in Blue's final act drew a peak concurrency of 21 million viewers as Harmanpreet Kaur's team became the first Asian team to lift the Women's World Cup.'
Smriti Mandhana dropped a rung to second but Jemimah Rodrigues scaled nine positions to be 10th in the latest ICC women's ODI rankings after India's title-winning World Cup performance.
The Indian team management has kept the media guessing but Rishabh Pant is set to become India's 38th Test captain.
The recipe for Indian higher education institutions to succeed in the global markets is excellence in academics, promoting contemporary socially relevant material, and enabling individuals (learners) to realise their full potential, suggests N Ravichandran.
'You saw Yashasvi Jaiswal start in the second innings, did you see the first three balls, the kind of shots that he attempted?'
'A total of 19 players have registered in the highest base-price bracket of Rs.50 lakh, 11 players in the Rs. 40 lakh bracket, and 88 players in the Rs.30 lakh bracket.'
The match between Australia and England was abandoned due to rain.
Senuran Muthusamy and Marco Jansen made Indian finger spinners' look ordinary in good batting conditions with invaluable lower-order contributions as South Africa seized control of the second Test.
The Proteas had kept the decision on playing Rabada open until Friday morning.
South African captain Laura Wolvaardt said she "couldn't be prouder" of her team's campaign in the ICC Women's World Cup and promised to get stronger in the coming times after they lost to India in the title clash in Navi Mumbai on Sunday.
Highlighting India as the company's most important growth market, Fabricio Bloisi, group chief executive officer (CEO) of the Dutch technology investor Prosus signaled a sharp acceleration in artificial-intelligence investments across its portfolio in the country.
Sack Gambhir before he damages any more careers, if you must. But it cannot stop there. The project ahead must be bigger, more ambitious, and far more urgent: Rebuilding the spine of Indian cricket from the grassroots up, and giving the Test team the seriousness it deserves. Only then will Indian cricket stop lurching from one crisis to another and begin, once again, to imagine greatness, suggests Prem Panicker.
Sai Sudharsan and Dhruv Jurel faced spinners while wearing only one pad to counter the turning deliveries, a method that comes with an element of risk, in Kolkata on Monday.
The entire nation erupted in joy when captain Harmanpreet Kaur completed the decisive catch to dismiss Nadine de Klerk off Deepti's bowling in the 46th over.
Sachin once removed the drive in Australia; maybe Jaiswal needs to shelve the cut shot: Steyn
South African opener Aiden Markram says his IPL side Lucknow Super Giants should simply focus on winning the crunch moments next year.
Jadeja completes 4,000 Test runs, enters elite all-round club
Australia captain Alyssa Healy is set to make a comeback in the ICC Women's World Cup semi-final against India on Thursday.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who returned to international cricket for the three-match ODI series against Australia recently, were not considered for India A's three-match one-day series against the touring South Africa A side, beginning in Rajkot on November 13.
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur's endorsement portfolio is expected to triple in the coming months.
The national selection committee led by Ajit Agarkar, in all likelihood, will select identical squads for the five-match T20I series against New Zealand and the marquee ICC T20 World Cup, a BCCI source said on Friday.
Potential windfall for women's squad: BCCI might match prize money of T20 WC winning men's team
India joined Australia, England, and New Zealand as ICC Women's Cricket World Cup winners, and, like the latter two, achieved this feat for the first time on home soil.
'I think it's an ongoing process, just continuously putting in hours of work and speaking to people that have played in these conditions, have done well in these conditions.'
India's campaign was on the verge of derailment after losing back-to-back games to South Africa, Australia and England. Against England, India were cruising at 234 for 3 before failing to surpass a target of 289.
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