JOHANNESBURG
\nIndian captain Virat Kohli has every reason to be confident his team can seal an historic Test series win in South Africa when they face the hosts in the second Test at the Wanderers Stadium on Monday.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a ground we all loving playing on and we are looking forward to it,\u201d said Kohli after India won the first Test at Centurion by 113 runs on Thursday.
\nThe numbers bear out Kohli\u2019s optimism.
\nIndia have yet to be beaten in a Test match at South Africa\u2019s premier cricket stadium and have a record of two wins and three draws since their first tour of South Africa in 1992\/93.
\nDespite the Wanderers being renowned as a ground favouring fast bowlers -\u2013 which should have put India at a disadvantage on some of their earlier tours, before the emergence of their potent current pace bowling attack \u2013- India have performed consistently well in Johannesburg.
\nThe ground holds particularly happy memories for some of the Indian touring party.
\nNew coach Rahul Dravid made his first Test century in a drawn match in 1996\/97 and ten years later captained India to their first Test win in South Africa.
\nKohli gave a batting masterclass when he made 119 and 96 in a high-scoring draw in 2013\/14 to enable India to set the hosts a seemingly impossible target of 458 runs to win.
\nIn that match, though, South Africa came close to beating India for the only time in Johannesburg, making 450 for eight in a dramatic draw.
\nKohli then led India to victory on a sub-standard pitch four seasons ago, a win he has highlighted as a \u201cmilestone\u201d which gave the side the belief to follow up with a series win in Australia last January.
\nThey also lead England 2-1 with the final Test — called off last year due to covid in the Indian camp — to be played later in 2022.
\nKohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane all made crucial runs on a pitch which was halted at one stage because conditions were regarded as dangerous, while Mohammed Shami, one of the heroes of the win in Centurion, took five for 28 in the second innings.
\n\u2018Several headaches\u2019
\nA series win in South Africa remains a final frontier for India, who now have the opportunity to wrap up an historic triumph with a match to spare.
\nIndia were superior in all departments at Centurion, although South Africa\u2019s fast bowlers came back strongly after a poor first day.
\nThe home side\u2019s batting was inadequate against a well-disciplined Indian bowling attack.
\nThe middle order is vulnerable in the absence of the now-retired Quinton de Kock, while the opening batsmen, captain Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram, have failed to stay together beyond the second over of an innings in South Africa\u2019s last three Tests.
\nThe scale of the defeat in the first Test has presented the home camp with several headaches.
\nElgar hinted at a change in the batting order and there are several permutations which are likely to be discussed.
\nKyle Verreynne is expected to be De Kock\u2019s successor as a wicketkeeper-batsman but South Africa will debate whether to add another specialist batsman in place of all-rounder Wiaan Mulder.
\nAs is often the case at the Wanderers, South Africa could consider picking an all-pace attack, with left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj having only played in two of a possible six Tests at the ground, in one of which — against Sri Lanka last season -\u2013 he was not called on to bowl.
\nIndia, meanwhile, have the luxury of considering whether to tamper with a winning team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JOHANNESBURG Indian captain Virat Kohli has every reason to be confident his team can seal an historic Test series win in South Africa when they face the hosts in the second Test at the Wanderers Stadium on Monday. \u201cIt\u2019s a ground we all loving playing on and we are looking forward to it,\u201d said Kohli […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236552,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[195,1257,591,1697],"class_list":{"0":"post-236540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-india","9":"tag-south-africa","10":"tag-victory","11":"tag-virat-kohli"},"yoast_head":"\n