With the first test between India and South Africa set to kick off in just 2 days’ time, the cricket analysts have started giving out their predictions and anecdotes about the ensuing series. That includes their Predicted Strongest XI of Team India. The meme king of the cricket world Wasim Jaffer has now let up on how he thinks team India should line up in the first test against South Africa and it is a pretty strong team as well.
Let us first take a look at his team.
Wasim Jaffer’s India’s playing XI for first Test against South Africa: Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (c), Ajinkya Rahane, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
In a ESPNCricinfo video, Wasim Jaffer revealed his team. He also addressed the big debate as to who should be India’s number five pick – Shreyas Iyer, Ajinkya Rahane or Hanuma Vihari. Wasim Jaffer somehow managed to fit in both Rahane and Shreyas in the Playing XI but had to leave Hanuma Vihari out.
Explaining this decision, Wasim Jaffer said, “There has been a lot of debate about Ajinkya Rahane. Whether he should play, whether he should not play? There’s Hanuma Vihari waiting in the benches.”
“In my opinion, however, he should play as he has been there and has even done well,” he added.
An interesting takeaway from Wasim Jaffer’s probable team is that he has picked only 4 bowlers in total – Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammad Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami. On a pitch as tricky as South Africa, playing with only 4 bowlers can turn out to be a boomerang.