South Africa vs India, 1st Test Stats Preview: Players records and approaching milestones

So after extending their dominance at home in the recent Test series against New Zealand, Virat Kohli will be leading his troops in South Africa, which remains the only country where India has never ever won a Test series in history. India minus injured Rohit Sharma will be looking to finally break this jinx in the rainbow nation.

The Test side has the likes of in-form Mayank Agarwal, returning KL Rahul, captain Virat himself, and Shreyas Iyer, who is fresh from his debut Test ton, to do the bulk of the scoring in tough South African conditions. Many eyes will also be on Cheteshwar Pujara again, who is not having the best of the times in his career. It will be interesting to see whether the team includes the experienced Ajinkya Rahane who sat out the second Test in Mumbai against the Kiwis after the return of skipper Kohli.

On the other hand, the hosts led by Dean Elgar would love to continue to perform against India at home by hoping runs from Temba Bavuma, Aiden Markram, and Quinton de Kock against a formidable-looking Indian pace attack. Wicket-taking duties will once again be on the speedsters Kagiso Rabada and Duanne Olivier along with Lungi Ngidi. The first of the three-Test takes place on Boxing Day December 26 at the SuperSport Park, Centurion.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers ahead of South Africa vs India, 1st Test:

Head-to-head: South Africa and India have met each other 39 times in Test history. Nothing much separates both sides as the hosts have won 15 Tests and India has managed to win 14 matches. 10 encounters were drawn. In South Africa, both teams have clashed 20 times with the Proteas winning ten games and losing three. Seven Tests ended up in a draw. The visitors have contested in two matches at Centurion and lost both.

2 – Virat Kohli (98) needs two catches to complete 100 catches in Tests.

1 – KL Rahul (49) needs one grab to reach 50 catches in Tests.

5 – Mohammed Shami (195) is five wickets away from reaching 200 Test wickets.

8 – R Ashwin (427) requires eight wickets to go past Kapil Dev (434) and become second highest wicket-taker for India in Tests.

5 – Aiden Markram (395) needs five fours to complete 400 fours across formats.

3 – Rishabh Pant (97) is three wicketkeeper dismissals away from completing 100 dismissals in the longest format of the game.

6 – Keshav Maharaj (129) requires six wickets to surpass Paul Adams and become the tenth-highest wicket-taker for South Africa in Tests.

3 – Ajinkya Rahane (97) is three grabs away from reaching 100 catches in Test matches.

6 – Temba Bavuma (344) requires six fours to complete 350 fours across formats.

1 – Wriddhiman Saha needs one match to complete 50 matches across formats.

1 – Ishant Sharma (311) needs one wicket to surpass Zaheer Khan and become the fifth highest wicket-taker for India in Tests.

2 – Duanne Olivier is two wickets away from completing 50 wickets in Tests.