SA Vs IND: Rohit Sharma and his men are in a spot of bother in the Test series against South Africa. India has lost the first Test match by an innings and 32 runs.
The Blues lost the opening encounter in just three days at SuperSport Park in Centurion. They are 0-1 down in the two-match series of the red ball format.
The final Test match between SA Vs IND will be played at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town. Now the bigger challenge awaits India in that 2nd and final encounter of this series of the longest format.
The Blues haven’t won any Tests in Cape Town and to level the series, the visitors India, will have to open their account at this stadium.
The finalist of back-to-back World Test Championship cycles of 2021 and 2023, India, started their new cycle in the WTC with a series win against West Indies.
Sharma and his men won that two-match series in the Caribbean by a margin of 1-0. India was ranked number two when they arrived in South Africa.
But after the visitors lost the 1st Test match, India has slipped to number 6th spot in the current Test rankings. The Blues had started the year of 2023 with a win in the ODI format.
However, they will have a lot to think about the red ball format after their humiliating defeat in the first Test match of the current series of the longest format.
India has also lost two vital points in the WTC event after their loss to the Proteas nation. The team of Men in Blue didn’t maintain their over rate, which is why their two points have been deducted by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the players also lost their 10 per cent of the match fees due to that.
According to the 2.22 ICC code of conduct, all the teams should maintain their over rate and they should bowl the allotted overs in time. If any side fails to cope with this rule, then the players will be fined.
The investigation saw that Rohit Sharma’s India was two overs short and hence they were fined by the match referees.
The Proteas have played their first series in the current cycle of the World Test Championship. South Africa has won the 1st Test match quite comprehensively.
Now the hosts of the Test series versus the Men in Blue will look to seal the two-match red ball series at Cape Town.
Australia is the current champions of two formats. The Aussies have won the World Test Championship final versus India, levelled the Ashes Test Series against England and even won the ODI World Cup 2023 in November which was also against Rohit and co. Cummins and his men have also won a series over Pakistan.
South Africa has a point percentage of 100 and they are the number one ranked team in the points table. While, the Aussies have won the two matches of their three-match series of the red ball format against the men in green side, Pakistan.
Earlier they have won two matches of the Ashes Test series and one game was drawn.
Australia has got 50 points in the current cycle of the World Test Championship. But the issue is that the two more teams with Australia are tied with the same number of points.
New Zealand and Bangladesh, who are in second and third positions have 50 points as well in the current points table. The top two teams will play the finals of this red ball event in 2025.
