Review of Indian Test squads of South Africa-tour: 2013 vs 2018

Form of the players in 2018 coming into the series

Shikhar Dhawan

Shikhar Dhawan played his first game against Sri Lanka at Galle where he raced away to a knock of 190 runs in the first innings. He followed it up with his second century of the series at Palekelle. He was also in good nick in India’s previous home-Test series against the Lankans.

Lokesh Rahul

KL Rahul has been one of India’s most consistent batsmen in 2017. Barring a couple of games, he has got runs in every match. In nine games, the Karnataka cricketer has notched seven half-centuries, however, couldn’t convert any of them into a substantial score.

Murali Vijay

Murali Vijay started off 2017 with a century against Bangladesh in Hyderabad. However, he suffered a wrist-injury during Australia’s tour of India, which sidelined him from the game for eight months. However, returned with a couple of stupendous tons against Sri Lanka at Delhi and Nagpur respectively.

Cheteshwar Pujara

Cheteshwar Pujara has had a scintillating year for India with over 1000 runs under his belt. He played a match-winning hand against Australia at Bengaluru and followed it up with a knock of 202 at Ranchi. Later in the year, he racked up three more tons against Sri Lanka at Galle, Colombo and Nagpur respectively.

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli has racked up runs at a haemorrhaging rate in 2017. He kicked the year off with a double century against Bangladesh. However, the Indian skipper had a disappointing run against Australia. Nevertheless, he scored three consecutive centuries against Sri Lanka, out of which two of them were converted into scores of 213 and 243 respectively.

Ajinkya Rahane

Ajinkya Rahane had a pretty mediocre year with the willow. Apart from his century against Sri Lanka at Colombo, the Mumbai batsman has struggled to find a rhythm while batting. In India’s previous Test series against Sri Lanka, the right-handed batsman could only manage 34 runs in six innings with a top score of 17.

Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma got his first opportunity in the second Test of Sri Lanka’s tour of India. He grabbed the opportunity with both hands and notched his third ton in Test cricket. He carried forward the form in Delhi where he scored a couple of half-centuries.

Hardik Pandya

Hardik Pandya, the swashbuckling all-rounder, made his Test debut against Sri Lanka at Galle in July. He looked in decent touch in the first couple of games at Galle and Colombo respectively. Nevertheless, he scored his maiden ton at Palekelle. To everyone’s surprise, he was left out of India’s home Test series against the same opponents.

Ravichandran Ashwin

Ravichandran Ashwin has garnered a truckload of wickets for India, especially in Test cricket. He has been in prime for India with the ball. The Tamil-Nadu off-spinner has also been handy with the bat and scored crucial runs lower down the order for India.