Team India gears up to end 29-year long drought in South Africa

After beating the Kiwis comfortably at home, Team India will take on South Africa in three Tests and as many ODIs with the first Test starting from Boxing Day (December 26). The Test series carries a lot of significance for Virat Kohli and his men as the African country remains the only place where the WTC runners-up have never ever managed to win a single series right from the 1992/93 series.

India doesn’t seem to enjoy the African safari when it comes to the longest format of the game, as they have won just three out of the 20 Test matches played in South Africa. The most recent one came in the last series in 2018 when the Asian team avoided the whitewash by winning the final match at Johannesburg eventually losing the series 2-1. The Proteas tasted success on ten occasions and seven clashes were drawn. The Indian team has won a series in each and every country they have toured in the Test history except for South Africa.

India has a winning percentage of just 15, their third-lowest when it comes to winning Tests in a nation. With just three victories in South Africa, it is India’s joint-second lowest number of wins with another African country Zimbabwe. The Asian giants have recorded just two wins, which is their lowest, against arch-rivals Pakistan in Pakistan.

India has lost six out of the seven Test series in South Africa

Team India hasn’t  been able to crack the African code as the Asian team has suffered defeats in six out of the seven Test series played in the Rainbow nation. Starting from 1992/93, the hosts won that series 1-0 with three encounters getting drawn. In 1996/97, the Proteas beat India by a 2-0 margin with one Test ending in a draw. In 2001, the African country defeated team India by 1-0 margin with one match ended up in a draw again.

Five years later, India finally registered a victory on African soil in 2006, when they won the first Test of the series but that failed to win or draw the next two as the Proteas won the series 2-1. The only series which India has ever managed to draw came in 2010 when both teams won a Test each. South Africa came back to winning ways by clinching the series 1-0 and 2-1 in 2013/14 and 2017/18 seasons respectively.

Virat Kohli and his men will be eager to tick all the boxes this time around and finally end the African drought by winning the series. With a blend of young and experienced batting line-up and having an arsenal of lethal bowling attack which is one of the best in the world, Kohli and team would look to exploit the African conditions well as it is team India’s best ever chance to finally break the jinx and win a Test series in South Africa.

India’s record in Tests in South Africa:

India’s Test records in all countries: