IND vs SA 2nd Test: Rishabh Pant In Charge, India Aim To Avoid Eden Gardens Repeat In Guwahati Debut

Team India would look to avoid an embarrassing and historic series defeat to South Africa when they lock horns in the second and final Test at the Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati on Saturday.

If India's batters were found wanting against some sustained South African spin bowling led by Simon Harmer and Keshav Maharaj, the challenge has been compounded even further this time around with the absence of regular skipper Shubman Gill.

Gill has been ruled out of the Test due to a neck injury sustained during the first Test in Kolkata.

India vice-captain Rishabh Pant will be leading the Indian team and will have a massive challenge of dealing with a South African team which has been buoyed by their first Test win in 15 years.

The visiting captain Temba Bavuma has been on an absolute roll as South Africa skipper winning 10 out of 11 Tests played so far and can register his 11th victory as captain in Guwahati.

For India and its head coach Gautam Gambhir, the Test will not just be about avoiding a series defeat but a potential turning point in terms of how they strategize and go about their approach of playing the game.

The decision to play on turning tracks adopted by Gambhir has come in for scathing criticism from all quarters with Indian batters found wanting in executing their skills.

If the pitch at the Eden Gardens turned out to be a damp squib with spinners from South Africa claiming 13 wickets between them and batters from both sides struggling and Bavuma being the only batsman scoring a fifty, Guwahati will be an unknown entity.

Going into a Test match with not knowing what to expect from the pitch is presently a scarier prospect for India and Gambhir given the recent turn of events.

India would hope their batters get their act together be it at the top of the order with the likes of KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal not firing in the Kolkata Test.

Washington Sundar's introduction as No 3 was being seen in some quarters as the ushering in of a new era by Gambhir.

The ploy did not work from a match winning perspective but Washington certainly has the potential and the goods to change the course of the match with his bat as much as he does with the ball.

With the left-handed batter's promotion up the order, India can play four spinners in tandem with Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav all in the mix.

Jasprit Bumrah gave India a rollicking start in the first Test with his ruthless fifer but then things went south for the home team.

However, the pace spearhead will expectedly hold the aces in the first session of the morning if India is bowling first on Saturday before the spinners come into play irrespective of how the pitch behaves.

South Africa would be aiming to go all out in all departments of the game. Bavuma would be hoping for a better display from the batters so that the more impressive bowlers have enough runs to dictate terms to India with a epic and historic series victory on the line.

India (probable): 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 KL Rahul, 3 B Sai Sudharsan, 4 Dhruv Jurel, 5 Rishabh Pant (capt, wk), 6 Nitish Kumar Reddy, 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 Washington Sundar, 9 Kuldeep Yadav, 10 Jasprit Bumrah, 11 Mohammed Siraj

South Africa (probable): 1 Aiden Markram, 2 Ryan Rickelton, 3 Wiaan Mulder/ Dewald Brevis/ Senuran Muthusamy, 4 Tony de Zorzi, 5 Temba Bavuma (capt.), 6 Tristan Stubbs, 7 Kyle Verreynne (wk), 8 Corbin Bosch, 9 Marco Jansen, 10 Simon Harmer, 11 Keshav Maharaj