India vs South Africa 2015 4th Test Match: Preview, Team News, Playing XIs, Live stream and TV Channel Guide
After clinching the series in Nagpur, in a game that was surrounded by controversies over the nature of the pitch, India will take on South Africa in the last and final match of the four-match series for the Gandhi-Mandela trophy at the historic Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi.
This series has been a nightmare for the visitors as they struggled to tackle the Indian spin trio in the first three matches. With Feroz Shah Kotla, being one of the best venues for spinners in India, the fourth test could also go in the same direction as the first three.
It can be argued that the matches getting over within three days and the ball dominating the bat are not the way to promote Test cricket. But the reality is that India are using their home advantage and unfortunately, the South Africans are unable to counter the spinners. More than the ball spinning, the fear of ball turning from the surface got the batsmen out on several occasions.
Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis showed their teammates how it should be done on a turning wicket in the third test and it won’t be a surprise if the Proteas batsmen put on a better show against the Indian spinners in Delhi. Even the Indian batsmen had a nightmare throughout the series, but the South African bowlers failed to cash in by bowling in consistent lines.
It has been a great start for Virat Kohli as the captain as he won the first series and broke South Africa's 9-year old unbeaten streak away from home. He will look to finish this series with a win in front of his home crowd while his South African counterpart will look to finish off the successful tour with a win.
Broadcast Details
Date: December 3-7, Thursday
Time: 9:30 A.M IST
TV Channel: Star Sports 1, HD1 (English) and 3, HD3 (Hindi)
Online Stream: www.starsports.com
Venue: Feroz Shah Kotla, New Delhi
Team News
India
With the wicket expected to assist the spinners, the hosts won’t be experimenting with the squad. The combination of the team was a big talking point ahead of the series as skipper Virat Kohli wanted to have 5 frontline bowlers in the playing XI, which meant that there will be only six batsmen and Rohit Sharma had to sit out of the first three Tests.
But in the third Test, India decided to strengthen their batting and Kohli decided to go in with an extra batsman and sacrificing a pacer. Shikhar Dhawan, whose form was a concern, showed promise in the last three innings and will open for India in front of his home crowd. It is almost certain that India will go into the final Test with the same XI that won at Nagpur.
South Africa
South Africa will be without their pace spearhead Dale Steyn for the final match of the series, which means that the impressive youngster Kagiso Rabada gets another chance to make an impact on the series.
Faf du Plessis looked solid in the second innings of the third Test, after a string of single digit scores in the series. The form of opener Stiaan Van Zyl is a concern for the Proteas and there is a possibility of the left-hander getting dropped for the fourth test in place of Temba Bavuma.
Predicted line-ups:
India: Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(Captain), Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha(wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma.
South Africa: Dean Elgar, Temba Bavuma, Hashim Amla(Captain), Faf du Plessis, AB De Villiers, JP Duminy, Dane Vilas(wicketkeeper), Simon Harmer, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Imran Tahir.
Pitch & Conditions
As mentioned above, all eyes will be on the playing surface and DDCA pitch curator Ankit Datta has said that he has been readying the 22-yard strip that can produce turn from the first session of the match. He also insisted that for this to happen, there should be bright sunshine for the next two days, so that the wickets can dry up and assist the spinners.
As far as the weather is concerned, the fourth Test won’t be facing any interruptions due to rain as the forecast suggests that conditions will remain sunny for all the five days. But there could be chances of delayed starts due to fogs.
India’s record at Kotla: Matches: 32 Won: 12 Lost: 6 Drawn: 14
South Africa’s record at Kotla: Matches:0 Won:0 Lost: 0 Drawn: 0
Recent Form
India: W-D-W-W-W
South Africa: L-D-L-D-D-W
Key Stats
- South Africa will play their first ever Test at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
- In the last 6 matches at home, India won five matches within 3 days. The remaining match was the second Test against South Africa that was rained out after the first day.
- R Ashwin has won 4 Man of the Series awards in his Test career. He needs one more to equal Sachin Tendulkar’s record of five in Tests.
- Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are 138 and 105 runs away from completing 3000 and 1000 Test runs respectively.