India Eye Ending South Africa Test Series Jinx

Two years after Virat Kohli shouted angrily into a stump microphone in what proved to be his final Test as captain, India will seek once again to breach the 'final frontier' for their Test team when they begin a two-match

Both showed on previous tours an ability to withstand South Africa's fast bowlers on the country's traditionally lively pitches.

South Africa will again be relying on pace to unsettle the Indian batsmen.

"India have a quality batting line-up but we've got quality bowlers," said Conrad.

Young guns Marco Jansen and Gerald Coetzee played in four-day domestic matches last week but the more experienced Kagiso Rabada (sore heel) and Lungi Ngidi (ankle sprain) both missed the opportunity to get some red-ball cricket.

Conrad, though, expected both to be fit for the Test.

"They'll be fresh, they'll be firing," he said.

India will be without fast bowler Mohammed Shami because of injury but Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj will still spearhead a potent attack.

The matches will be the first for South Africa in the 2023-25 World Test Championship cycle.

It's India's second series in the championship after they won one match and drew one against the West Indies in July.

Squads:

South Africa:

Temba Bavuma (capt), Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Keegan Petersen, David Bedingham, Tristan Stubbs, Kyle Verreynne (wkt), Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder, Gerald Coetzee, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Nandre Burger.

India:

Rohit Sharma (capt), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wkt), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Prasidh Krishna, KS Bharat (wkt), Abhimanyu Easwaran.

Umpires: Paul Reiffel (AUS), Langton Rusere (ZIM).

TV umpire: Ahsan Raza (PAK)

Match referee: Chris Broad (ENG).

Fixtures:

December 26-30, first Test, Centurion

January 3-7, second Test, Cape Town