SOMSHUVRA LAHA

CAPETOWN: Forget rankings, you know this could be a good Test rubber when the teams match each other in almost every department. Having come off easy victories, India and South Africa square off in a slightly delayed New Year’s Test at the Newlands stadium to kick off a year that should decide Virat Kohli’s place in the annals of Indian cricket history.

Kohli’s India has 12 Tests — against South Africa, England and Australia — to prove they are worth the hype. With three specialist openers, a middle order that is slowly building its own legacy, one of the fittest wicketkeepers of all time, seamers who have delivered overseas and the world’s top two spinners, India give vibes of a well-rounded team. But they would be well-advised to not get ahead of themselves even before the battle’s begun.

The last time there was a sense India could break the hoodoo they lost 8-0 in England and Australia in 2011-12. N Srinivasan blocked MS Dhoni’s removal from captaincy but Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman retired almost promptly to spark a transition that gave us a skilled but youthful team desperate to walk the talk.

It will be far from easy though. South Africa are still licking the wounds sustained in a calamitous 3-0 loss in India three years back that snatched the No 1 status from them. So, with the help of an industrious curator in Evan Flint, South Africa are trying to prepare a pitch that will return the hospitality meted out in Mohali, Nagpur and Delhi.

The sun, though, is playing its own games by drying the Newlands pitch sooner than planned. At best, this pitch may provide something to everyone. Worst case scenario might be a track like the one that produced 1415 runs in a dead draw against