Two concerns for skipper Faf

Having been in the field for more than 200 overs and taken just 11 wickets in the first Test against India, energy levels and having a more attacking bowling line-up were the chief concerns on the mind of Proteas captain Faf du Plessis on the eve of the second Test starting in Pune today.

Having a more penetrative bowling attack should also of course lessen the amount of time South Africa have to spend in the field and Du Plessis (below) has said choosing a third seam bowler is one of the changes they are considering.

“We spent a lot of time in the field, we haven’t fielded that long for a while, and the physical heat and the extremely hard conditions mean we need to be fresh for the second Test. And we don’t want to be struggling for wickets again, so we’ll be looking at the most aggressive option for us to get wickets. In terms of selection, you’re trying to find guys who can win you matches.”

While South Africa could well return to their more traditional approach of using three flame-throwing pace bowlers to apply more pressure to the Indian batsmen, the burning question being whether Lungi Ngidi or Anrich Nortje is selected, there is no doubt that the two great Indian slow bowlers, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, will once again be bringing the heat.

“With below-average pitches now having points deducted in the Test Championship, I don’t think teams will be making extreme pitches like here in 2015 anymore, but generally there is more spin over here and we expect more spin than in the first Test.

“They have two masters in their own conditions and our spinners need to try and learn from them. Shami also ran in with intensity, bowled a bit quicker in the second innings and that made things happen quicker off the pitch, with day five conditions in his favour,” Du Plessis said.