India Predicted Playing 11 for 3rd Test vs South Africa: Focus on Virat Kohli, Siraj at Cape Town

India
have
never
won
a
Test
series
in
South
Africa
and
they
will
be
eager
to
use
this
chance
and
etch
a
piece
of
history
at
Cape
Town.

They
have
couple
of
issues
to
sort
out
prior
to
the
third
Test
in
terms
of
team
selection.
Regular
Test
skipper
Virat
Kohli
had
missed
the
second
Test
at
the
Wanderers,
which
the
Proteas
won
by
7
wickets,
with
an
upper
back
spasm.

Both
head
coach
Rahul
Dravid
and
stand-in-captain
KL
Rahul
hinted
that
Kohli
is
nearing
his
match
fitness
and
has
started
training
at
nets
and
fielding
practice.
It
may
come
as
welcome
portend
for
India
as
they
missed
the
passion
and
energy
that
Kohli
brings
to
the
field.

India
appeared
to
have
been
going
through
motions
on
the
fourth
day
of
the
second
Test
South
Africa,
led
by
Dean
Elgar,
rattled
Indian
bowlers
and
garnered
the
required
122
runs
with
much
ease.

So,
India
will
be
eager
to
welcome
back
Kohli
in
the
series
deciding
Cape
Town
Test.

“Virat
Kohli
should
be
fine
from
all
accounts,
he
should
be
fine.
He
has
had
the
opportunity
to
run
around
a
little
bit,
he
has
had
the
opportunity
to
test
it
a
little
bit.
Hopefully
with
a
couple
of
net
sessions
in
Cape
Town,
he
should
be
good
to
go.
Everything
I
am
hearing
and
just
having
a
chat
with
him,
he
should
be
good
to
go
in
four
days
time,”
said
Dravid.

In
another
dilemma,
pacer
Mohammad
Siraj
bowled
way
below
his
best
in
the
second
Test
after
suffering
a
hamstring
injury.
Siraj
gave
away
more
than
six
runs
per
over
in
the
second
innings
and
was
a
pale
shadow
of
the
energetic
bowler
that
he
actually
is.

India
might
consider
bringing
either
Ishant
Sharma
or
Umesh
Yadav
if
Siraj
is
not
recovered
in
time
for
the
third
Test.
But
as
things
stand
now,
India
might
opt
for
Ishant
because
he
has
the
experience
of
playing
in
South
Africa
and
can
extract
bounce
from
the
pitch
because
of
his
height,
something
the
SA
pacers
did
well
at
Johannesburg.

In
all
likelihood,
India
will
retain
the
experienced
duo
of
Cheteshwar
Pujara
and
Ajinkya
Rahane
for
the
Cape
Town
Test
as
they
showed
some
semblance
of
form
at
Wanderers
scoring
a
fifty
apiece.

KL
Rahul
too
indicated
as
much.
“They
have
been
great
players
for
us
(on
Pujara
and
Rahane),
have
always
done
the
job
for
us
over
the
years,
have
been
under
the
pump
recently.

“But
we
believe
Pujara
and
Rahane
are
our
best
middle-order
players,
to
go
out
there,
bat
in
that
mindset
and
play
such
an
innings.
It’ll
give
them
confidence
and
make
them
do
even
better
in
the
next
Test,”
said
Rahul
after
the
third
Test.

Possible
India
11
for
3rd
Test:
KL
Rahul,
Mayank
Agarwal,
Cheteshwar
Pujara,
Virat
Kohli
(Captain),
Ajinkya
Rahane,
Rishabh
Pant
(wk),
Shardul
Thakur,
R
Ashwin,
Mohammed
Shami,
Jasprit
Bumrah,
Ishant
Sharma.