The emerging sensation in India's pace battery, Prasidh Krishna, has made a strong case for himself to earn a potential Test debut after picking up a fifer in the drawn four-day game between South Africa A and India A in Potchefstroom.
As per a PTI report, India's veteran pacer Mohammed Shami is batting an ankle condition. Hence, there are chances that he might miss the Boxing Day Test against South Africa in Centurion starting December 26.
If Shami misses the game then that can automatically open the doors for Prasidh, who is fresh out of an impressive spell (including a hat-trick) against South Africa's A squad.
Prasidh, 27, bowled 18.1 overs and finished with figures of 5/43, including six maiden overs. He was able to take the ball away from the right-handed South African batters at pace and was constantly breathing down their neck.
The Karnataka pacer has an impressive first-class record and that adds to the reason why the current selection committee and the members of the team management have so much confidence in him.
Wickets in South Africa are traditionally known to assist seamers and provide enough lateral movement to keep them interested throughout the course of the game. Hence, a bowler like Prasidh can utilise the conditions to his advantage and can be a great asset in the marquee series.
Notably, India are yet to win a Test series on South African soil. The Indian team has been on eight Test tours of South Africa and has lost seven of those series. The 2010-11 tour produced a historic result for India when they managed to draw a two-match Test series - their first-ever drawn series in the longest format of the game in the Rainbow Nation.
India's Test squad for the South Africa tour:
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ishan Kishan (wk), KL Rahul (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohd. Siraj, Mukesh Kumar, Mohd. Shami*, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Prasidh Krishna
