India vs South Africa: Rohit Sharma & Co. gear up to end 31-year wait for series win in Rainbow Nation

Rohit Sharma will have to erase the heartbreak of the ODI World Cup a month ago and embark on another challenge. The skipper will have to shift focus on ending India’s 31-year wait for a Test series win on South African soil.

The two-match Test series, starting on the Boxing Day, will be India’s ninth away series in the Rainbow Nation since 1992, and Rohit will have a massive task of reversing a poor record. No surprise that it has been dubbed as the team’s ‘final frontier’.

However, for the action to start at Supersport Park in Centurion, heavy rains predicted on the first two days need to subside.

Read | Why lack of practice games could hurt India heading into Centurion Test

The surface offers variable bounce and is one of the fastest in the region. Speaking ahead of the contest, the curator spoke of it being a pacer friendly surface and it becoming even more so with rain in the offing on the first two days.

At the ODI World Cup, Rohit Sharma would have equalled Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni as Indian captains to win the tournament. A win here would put him better than the previous captains that have toured South Africa. Mohammed Azharuddin, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Dhoni and Virat Kohli all have skippered in the country but never been able to clinch a series.

Test Match Mode