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Big picture: Can South Africa challenge upbeat India?
It’s been a while but women’s cricket finally returns to Chennai. Both teams are unfamiliar with the conditions: India haven’t played here since a Quadrangular Series in 2007; South Africa have only played one match in Chennai, a T20 World Cup game in 2016.
But India are coming into this match not only having played a Test against England and Australia last December, but also comprehensively beating both those top sides. India’s spinners were key in those wins, and that will also be a big advantage for the home team going into this Test in what are expected to be spin-friendly conditions.
India’s resources have only increased in the last several months. They handed maiden call-ups to several players and have had four players train at the National Cricket Academy exclusively for the red-ball format, boasting depth in both batting and bowling departments. Their offspin-allrounders Sneh Rana and Deepti Sharma played match-winning hands in the December Tests, while their batters posted two 400-plus totals in the first innings of both matches. Most of the international players also played in the Senior Women’s Inter-zonal multi-day series in March-April.
India will also take confidence from the ODI series win against South Africa into the Test. Their mainstay Smriti Mandhana showed superb form, while the likes of Deepti and Arundhati Reddy shone with the ball.
South Africa, on the other hand, will be playing their second Test of the year, having suffered an innings defeat against Australia in February in Perth. They also don’t have quality preparation with the red ball heading into this Test. The format is not part of their domestic system and South Africa also had only a couple of days to adjust to the conditions. They did have long net sessions over the last two days against Tamil Nadu’s Under-14 and Under-16 boys teams, facing more spin than pace.
South Africa captain Laura Wolvaardt said on the eve of the Test that adapting to the ball “staying low and turning a bit” will be the “biggest challenge”. They do have a left-arm spin option in Nonkululeko Mlaba, while Marizanne Kapp said Sune Luus, who bowled offspin in the second ODI, will also bowl.
All things considered, it is advantage India going into the only Test.
India WWD (last three matches, most recent first)
South Africa LDL
In the spotlight: Deepti Sharma and Laura Wolvaardt
Deepti Sharma has been in brilliant all-round form lately. In the Test against England, she picked up a match haul of 9 for 39, which included superb figures of 5 for 7 in the first innings. She also scored a 67 in that game in a dominant Indian batting display. Deepti followed that up with a score of 78 and two wickets against Australia. She was in peak form in domestic cricket as well, taking 27 wickets and scoring 157 runs in three games in the Inter-zonal multi-day Trophy for East Zone.
Captain Laura Wolvaardt has been a force at the top of the order for South Africa for a long time. But she’s been batting at a different level since last year: she averages 68.21 in ODIs with five centuries and three fifties, and 49 in T20Is with seven half-centuries. She scored 135* and 61 in the last two ODIs against India and will be a key player for South Africa in the Test as well.
Team news: India likely to go with Shubha at No. 3
Satheesh Shubha, who played the England Test in December, is likely to slot in at No. 3. Renuka Singh was rested for the last two ODIs against South Africa but had a bowl at the nets on the eve of the Test. Harmanpreet Kaur said that India would keep Renuka’s “workload in mind”.
India (probable XI): 1 Smriti Mandhana, 2 Shafali Verma, 3 Satheesh Shubha, 4 Jemimah Rodrigues, 5 Harmanpreet Kaur (capt), 6 Richa Ghosh (wk), 7 Deepti Sharma, 8 Sneh Rana, 9 Pooja Vastrakar, 10 Rajeshwari Gayakwad/ Saika Ishaque, 11 Renuka Singh
Kapp, who did not play South Africa’s Test against Australia earlier this year, is likely to slot back in. She, however, did not bowl in the ODI series last week. Wolvaardt said at the press conference that Kapp was “managing her workload and taking it on a day-to-day basis” with the T20 World Cup around the corner. Sinalo Jafta, who did not play the last two ODIs after she suffered a mild concussion, has trained all week and is available for selection.
South Africa (probable XI): 1 Laura Wolvaardt (capt), 2 Anneke Bosch, 3 Marizanne Kapp 4 Sune Luus, 5 Tazmin Brits, 6 Delmi Tucker, 7 Nadine de Klerk, 8 Sinalo Jafta (wk), 9 Nonkulueko Mlaba, 10 Masabata Klaas, 11 Tumi Sekhukhune
Pitch and conditions: Expect spin to play a big role
The Chepauk surface is traditionally known for being slow and spin-friendly. A red-soil strip will be used for the match, and Harmanpreet expects it to start spinning “from the second or third day”.There was a cloud cover on the eve of the Test but there’s no rain threat to the game.
