Team India has an excellent opportunity to end a 31-year wait for a Test series win over South Africa in their backyard. Rohit Sharma-led men will resume their ICC World Test Championship (WTC) campaign in the two-match series against the Proteas. Both teams will lock horns in the first Test match, starting today (December 26) at Centurion Park. After a break, Rohit, Virat Kohli, and Jasprit Bumrah will be there in India’s star-studded playing XI.

Speaking to Star Sports ahead of the Boxing Day Test, batting legend Sunil Gavaskar expressed that experienced batters like Kohli and Rohit should have a run-fest against South Africa. Gavaskar believes that the ‘probable absence’ of Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi will aid India’s batters in scoring huge totals in the Test series.

When discussing the Indian bowling attack, the former legendary batter stated why he named Mukesh Kumar as Mohammed Shami’s replacement. Shami, India’s leading wicket-taker at the ODI World Cup, failed to regain fitness. I am not sure about Prasidh Krishna. He has come back from an injury. If he is required to bowl 15-20 overs in the day, I am not sure if he will be able to do that, Gavaskar added.

Depending on what you want you want and what kind of a surface you are looking at, my third pick would be Mukesh because he moves the ball and bowls good lines and lengths. He has got the experience of bowling long spells because he has played a lot of Ranji Trophy cricket, Gavaskar concluded.