Steyn set to miss Nagpur Test

In both Test matches the Proteas have looked uncomfortable against the spin of Ravinchandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

“It is a cat mouse game, everybody trying to come one up and the bowler trying to come up on the batsman and it has been going well for us”.

The return to form of opener Shikhar Dhawan is another plus.

Murali Vijay has scored 1961 runs from 13 Test matches for India since 2013 at an average of 49.02. “In Mohali, for first three innings of the game, we were still in it. If India got bowled out for 200, and we for 184, it’s a pretty good indication that it was poised up to the last day, which we didn’t play well”, he said.

With the pitch expected to be a slow turner, the hosts may either bring back leg-spinner Mishra or hand a Test cap to rookie off-spinning allrounder Gurkeerat Mann.

A battered South Africa, meanwhile, hoped its injuries did not become a hindrance in the upcoming match.

The prediction this time around is not much different.

“We haven’t played our best Test cricket”, Amla said to the media in Nagpur on Tuesday.

After grey, blustery and mostly cricket-free Bangalore, the teams have moved to the geometric centre of India and the promise of a Test match free of interruptions under clear, cloudless skies.

“I definitely would have liked to have got more runs in the series”, said Amla, who hit an unbeaten 253, the second highest of his 23 three-figure knocks in Test cricket, in Nagpur five years ago. Dale Steyn’s continuing groin troubles have more or less ruled him out of contention, leaving Kagiso Rabada and Kyle Abbott as the leading candidates to partner Morne Morkel in the seam attack.

“He is a great asset to the team because he can bowl, he can field well and he is a good batsman at that slot and he has done really well for himself after coming back”.

In the pace department, there is still a question mark on Dale Steyn’s fitness and the Proteas will wait till Wednesday morning before taking a call on the experienced fast bowler. It was a pleasing thing for us to see. They’re monitoring it and give him till 9 O’clock on Wednesday morning to decide. Their batsmen have had a torrid time against the Indian spinners led by R Ashwin. The lanky bowler says achieving success on the sub-continent as a fast bowler comes down to small margins and a change of mind-set, especially in conditions where opportunities are scarce. That is the big strength for us over the last couple of years.

When South Africa played a Test in Nagpur in 2010, Steyn picked up a 10-wicket haul, including a career-best 7-57 in the first innings, to fashion his team s emphatic win by an innings and six runs.