Conversations might have been different if Pant got his execution right: Jansen
Bavuma said his hamstring was 'feeling good' ahead of his return, and the South African skipper also confirmed he would bat at number three for the opening match of the three-game series behind openers Ryan Rickelton and Aiden Markram.
Wolvaardt played eight ODIs in October at the Women's World Cup, amassing 470 runs at a stunning average of 67.14 and an impressive strike rate of 97.91.
Not handing the ball to lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah to start the third day's play on a challenging Eden Gardens surface was "questionable", said the legendary Anil Kumble.
South Africa are the World Test champions and skipper Temba Bavuma wants them to play like it and prove their credentials in the two-Test series against India beginning on Friday.
Shami, 35, was left out of India's 15-member squad for the two home Tests against South Africa, scheduled to commence on Friday at the famed Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Before his most recent snub, Shami had openly expressed his disappointment about being sidelined from India's recent Test fixtures.
Noman collected a 10-wicket haul during Pakistan's 93-run triumph over South Africa in Lahore recently and moved up four places.
Openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and K L Rahul perished early as India fumbled in the chase of a mammoth 549-run target on Day 4 of the second Test.
Ravichandran Ashwin exposed India batters' lack of quality to battle ball tweakers by claiming that if legendary batter Sachin Tendulkar or past domestic heroes Amol Muzumdar, the India women's team head coach and Mithun Manhas had played against spinners on such a track, the Test would have gone to four days, unlike India's harrowing 30-run defeat against South Africa at Eden Gardens.
South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt scored a hundred for the ages before the seasoned Marizanne Kapp made the ball talk in good batting conditions to script a 125-run victory over England and enter their maiden Women's ODI Cup final, in Guwahati, on Wednesday.
Despite this, Bangladesh's inconsistent top order remains a significant concern. Skipper Nigar Sultana Joty, who also performs wicketkeeping duties, has struggled for runs, averaging just nine in the tournament.
Mandhana led the Indian charge at the top, and her partnerships with opening batter Pratika Rawal created quite a buzz in the showpiece event.
Young India opener Abhishek Sharma and spinner Varun Chakravarthy continued to occupy the top spots among batters and bowlers in the latest ICC Men's T20 Players' Rankings issued on Wednesday.
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.
Pant, who will lead India A, is returning after a three-month absence because of a foot injury which he sustained in July in England, and now the 28-year-old southpaw is aiming to get back to the national fold during the two-match Test series against the Proteas.
With Bumrah leading the charge, India prised out five wickets in the second session to snuff out South Africa's hopes of reaching the 200 mark.
On paper, Pakistan are no match for South Africa even though Fatima Sana's team did win an ODI in the bilateral series that served as a dress rehearsal for the World Cup.
Vice-captain Rishabh Pant said India's batters should have adapted to the challenge of playing on a tricky pitch at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Veteran allrounder Marizanne Kapp excelled with both bat and ball, while skipper Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus also smashed fine half-centuries as South Africa defeated Pakistan by 150 runs (DLS Method) in a rain-affected Women's World Cup match to go top of the table, in Colombo, on Tuesday.
Namibia pulled off a shock four-wicket win over South Africa in a one-off Twenty20 international on Saturday that marked the opening of the new cricket stadium in Windhoek.
South Africa sharpen spin game in attacking net session ahead of Eden Test
Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma guided India to a historic 52-run victory over South Africa which saw the ICC Women's World Cup 2025 hosts lift the trophy for the first time.
Deepti Sharma and Shafali Verma's superb all-round showing powered India to a historic first-ever Women's ODI World Cup title after they outclassed South Africa by 52 runs in the final.
Having played the most defining knock of her career to ensure South Africa's maiden entry into Women's ODI World Cup final, skipper Laura Wolvaardt found the feeling to be surreal.
Australia captain Alyssa Healy is set to make a comeback in the ICC Women's World Cup semi-final against India on Thursday.
The Proteas arrive high on confidence, having fought out a hard-earned 1-1 draw in Pakistan last month under challenging conditions.
Countering Bumrah before spinners come into play will be key for SA: Graeme Smith
South Africa coach Shukri Conrad was overwhelmed to see his spinners rule the roost in the first Test against India at the Eden Gardens, signalling to him that the Rainbow Nation is no longer an exclusive "fast bowling country" and hoped that a lot more slow bowlers will emerge.
Kotian took four wickets as India A restricted South Africa A to 299 for 9 on the first day of the opening four-day match at the BCCI CoE grounds in Bengaluru on Thursday.
'I think we've seen on various stages around the world now that they are proper X-factor players and that they have taken to international cricket quite easily.'
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.
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.
The Harmanpreet Kaur-led India will be playing an ODI World Cup final for the third time, having finished runners-up in 2005 and 2017 to Australia and England, respectively. This will be South Africa's maiden appearance in the final.
India's awe-inspiring batting depth will face a stern test against South Africa's quality spin attack in the first Test, starting in Kolkata on Friday.
Frustrating to lose wickets to part-timer; SA are doing right to make three finals: Wolvaardt
Arshdeep Singh has enough experience to understand that the Indian team management is trying different combinations looking at the bigger picture, bowling coach Morne Morkel said.
The Indian women's team is set to leave for New Delhi from Mumbai on Tuesday for a special meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to celebrate their World Cup triumph.
This was India's fourth defeat in the last six Tests at home and in all four Tests -- including three against New Zealand -- their batters have flopped against spin.
Deepti Sharma, the World Cup's leading wicket-taker who took a magnificent 5/39 in the final, is joined by teammates Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues in World Cup's Team of the Tournament.
India A skipper Rishabh Pant will look to build on the gains from the first match, while the likes of Mohammed Siraj and Kuldeep Yadav will aim for crucial red-ball game time in the second four-day match against a Temba Bavuma-led South Africa A in Bengaluru from Thursday.
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