South Africa will head to India armed with three frontline slow bowlers in their Test squad after recalling leg-spinner Imran Tahir and off-break bowler Dane Piedt for the four-match series starting in November.
India 'A' batsmen failed to deliver when it mattered the most as they crashed to a 121-run defeat in the second unofficial 'Test' against South Africa 'A', who rode on seamer Beuran Hendricks' six-wicket haul to level the two-match series 1-1 in Pretoria, on Tuesday.
Manoj Tiwary and Manish Pandey missed out on three-figure marks but their contrasting innings were enough to guide India 'A' to a comprehensive 70-run victory over South Africa 'A' in the second match of the quadrangular series in Darwin on Tuesday.
'As a spinner, some will go your way some days and some won't, that is cricket. I don't look too much into that. I want to contribute with bat, ball and in the field. When my opportunities come I want to make sure I take them.'
South Africa have now lost five Tests in a row, including two shock home losses to Sri Lanka, and are struggling with on-field know-how to dig themselves out of tough situations.
Jonny Bairstow led England to within 40 runs of South Africa's first innings total, with seven wickets in hand, on the first day of the second Test at Old Trafford on Thursday.
Batsman AB de Villiers will return to the role of wicketkeeper for South Africa in the opening two Tests of their four-match home series against England starting in Durban on Boxing Day.
Rajneesh Gupta presents some interesting numbers to take note of at the end of the first day's play in the third Test between India and South Africa.
India's Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin thrived on a spinners' paradise in Mohali, bamboozling South Africa's batsmen in the first Test to secure a 108-run victory with more than two days to spare on Saturday.
Opener Reeza Hendricks, wicketkeeper Dane Vilas, spinner Aaron Phangiso and fast bowler Kagiso Rabada, who have all previously represented the country in the limited overs formats, picked for Bangladesh Tests
Pacer Ishwar Pandey took four wickets, including two with successive deliveries, but South Africa 'A' fought back through a fighting 84 from J P Duminy and his crucial partnerships with the tail-enders, in the first unofficial Test against India 'A', in Rustenburg, on Monday.
Having made an impression with his efforts in the drawn warm-up match between Indian Board President's XI and South Africans, Mumbai medium pacer Shardul Thakur said he is confident of taking wickets anywhere except on rank turners.
After a dream ODI debut last month, teenaged paceman Mustafizur Rahman announced his Test arrival by claiming three wickets in four balls as Bangladesh bowled out South Africa for 248 on the opening day of the first Test in Chittagong on Tuesday.
Australia will play against Sri Lanka in the first T20I at North Sydney Oval on September 29.
Having decimated South Africa inside three days on a turning track in Mohali, India will again look to unleash their troika of spinners to spoil A B de Villiers's landmark 100th match when the two sides meet in the second Test, in Bangalore, on Saturday.
The South Africa fast bowler said he had made the difficult decision to sign a four-year contract with Hampshire to ensure his financial security.
AB de Villiers' masterly 85 in his 100th test could not gloss over South Africa's spin frailty as India took charge of the second Test after dominating the opening day at Bengaluru's M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday.
Part-time spinner Dean Elgar ripped through India's batting line-up with four wickets as South Africa made the hosts rue their decision to bat first on the opening day of the first Test in Mohali, on Thursday.
India 'A' registered a thumping innings and 13 runs victory over South Africa 'A' on the fourth and final day of the unofficial first Test to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series, in Rustenburg, on Tuesday.
Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar says South Africa will be a tough challenge for India in the upcoming Test series and marked out Proteas leg-spinner Imran Tahir as the one bowler to watch out for.
The Proteas bowlers took part in a thorough session under the watchful eyes of Langeveldt with the aim of increasing their workloads and mapping out expectations and game plans ahead of the 72-day tour which starts with the first Twenty20 match in Dharamsala on October 2.
South Africa coach Russell Domingo says the Proteas will rely on their pace battery to rattle India's formidable batting in the upcoming series, which kicks-off with a Twenty20 warm-up match against an India 'A' team in Delhi on Tuesday.
Kolpak deals to end; Cricket South Africa's Graeme Smith says they will welcome back any former Kolpak players who are willing to be part of the domestic structures.
Mumbai pacer Shardul Thakur pushed South Africa to the backfoot before the classy AB de Villiers rallied the tourists with a typically aggressive century on the second and last day of the practice game against Board President's XI which ended in a draw, in Mumbai, on Saturday.
When he walked out to bat, India were in a precarious position with all their top batsmen back in the hut and once again it was Ravindra Jadeja who played the rescue act.
Injured South Africa pacer Dale Steyn bowled for a short while in the nets, raising hopes of him being included in the playing XI in the third Test against India in Nagpur, but his fast bowling partner Morne Morkel said the team is keeping its fingers crossed.
Dismissing the notion that the Mohali pitch was a vicious turner, South Africa captain Hashim Amla on Saturday said most dismissals in the opening Test match was due to lack of spin rather than excess of it. He also came down hard on his batsmen, saying they could have applied themselves better.
Outwitted in both the T20 and the ODI series, India will seek redemption in the Test format by trying to spin a web around the formidable South Africans in the four-match series starting in Mohali, on Thursday.
Images from Day 2 of the first Test between India and South Africa in Mohali, on Friday.
India might have wasted the advantage of winning the toss after being bundled out for a paltry 201 against South Africa, on Thursday, but batting coach Sanjay Bangar feels the hosts' first innings total is 'much bigger' than it looks on a slow and low pitch.
Going by the state of the pitch and the match situation after Day 1 in the ongoing third Test against South Africa in Nagpur, few are betting against another three-day finish, says Harish Kotian/Rediff.com.
'It definitely got more difficult to bat -- I think from day one to day three, it got progressively worse. That's just what it was'
Photos from Day 2 of the 3rd Test match played in Nagpur on Thursday
Images from Day 1 of the first Test between India and South Africa in Mohali, on Thursday.
'Team India's strategy -- rather the lack of it -- boomeranged in the game against New Zealand. It's because of the T20 generation's lack of patience to counter spin,' feels Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com
A staggering 20 wickets fell on a dramatic day as India shot out South Africa for a record-low first innings score of 79 before setting the visitors a formidable target of 310 to win the third and penultimate cricket Test and clinch the series.
India captain Virat Kohli rejected criticism of the pitch for the first Test against South Africa in Mohali and said it was 'errors in shot selection' that brought about wickets for spinners rather than the pitch playing tricks, a view his rival captain Hashim Amla also shared.
