India's Best Shot In South Africa

Can Virat Kohli & Co break the jinx?

- Alshaar Khan

From the gritty Mohammad Azharuddin-Sachin Tendulkar 200-plus 6th wicket stand and Sreesanth’s on-field break dance, to India’s memorable 87-run win in Durban and one of the closest fought draws in the history of Test cricket at Jo’burg, India’s tours to South Africa have never been short on drama. One thing, however, that the Men in Blue haven’t ever been able to achieve on any of their six visits is a series win in the Rainbow Nation. Beginning January 5, Virat Kohli’s record equalling team will be attempting to break the jinx in the Proteas’ den. The question is, can they do it?

Team India will land in Cape Town for the first Test on the back of their second-best annual record, ahead of any series in Africa. Their seven wins in 11 matches is only bettered by the visiting squad of 2013/14, which had won 100 per cent of its six games played in the preceding year. Four of those half-a-dozen victories had come against the weakened Aussies of 2013, though, followed by a hammering of the generous West Indies in Tendulkar’s farewell two-match series.