As India and South Africa are all set to lock horns for the 2nd Test at Johannesburg, Let’s look at some relevant numbers for this match.
Wanderers Stadium- India’s fort!
This will be India’s 6th test match at this venue and they haven’t lost a game as they ended up with 2 wins and 3 draws. The only other ground where India played more matches without losing a Test match, is Georgetown, Guyana as India played 6 Tests there (all 6 draws).
Coincidentally India’s first test win in the rainbow nation was achieved at this venue & when India beat the Proteas by 123 runs under the leadership of current India head coach Rahul Dravid. Another win (at this venue) was in the last tour when Virat Kohli & Co. got the better of South Africa on a spicy surface in 2018.
Kohli’s den:
Indian skipper Virat Kohli had some happy memories here as he is the leading run-scorer for India on this ground. As he scored 310 runs in 4 innings. In his first test in 2013, he played two influential knocks (119 and 96) as the game ended in a thrilling draw while in 2018 he played two impactful knocks (54 & 41) on a very spicy surface.
Spinner’s graveyard:
The surface at Wanderers has been proved a graveyard for spinners over the years. The last time India played here in 2018, they went with 5 pace bowling options (including Hardik Pandya) and it worked well for them so they would be tempted to repeat it. In fact, there wasn’t a single over of spin bowled from either side as the Proteas went with 5 pacers as well.
Since South Africa’s readmission in cricket, only two spinners could take a fifer at this ground. Kumble achieved this feat in the very first tour in 1992 as the leg spinner returned with figures of 6/53 while New Zealand’s Matthew Hart returned with figures of 5/77 in 1994.
Ashwin doesn’t have many happy memories at this ground either as the off-spinner went wicketless in both innings of the Test in 2013. However, if he plays, he would need another 6 wickets to overtake Kapil Dev’s tally of 434 wickets and would become 2nd highest wicket for India behind Anil Kumble (619)
Catch it!
Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane need another two and one catch respectively to reach the milestone of 100 catches in Test cricket. Only five Indian players- Rahul Dravid (210), VVS Laxman (135), Sachin Tendulkar (115), Sunil Gavaskar (108), and Mohammad Azharuddin (105) have achieved this milestone before.
Rishabh Pant also needs another 4 catches to complete his 100 catches in Test Cricket Only 3 Indian wicketkeepers- MS Dhoni (256), Syed Kirmani (160), and Kiran More (110) have achieved it previously.
Head to head:
Currently, the head-to-head record for India vs South Africa has been tied with 15 wins each so whoever wins here, will take the lead.