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A staggering 23 wides has let the Indian team down in this Championship. Can the bowlers redeem India’s lost pride by improving upon their performance when they face tournament favourites South Africa today?

According to Castrol Index, Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma have bowled at an economy rate of 8.75 and taken an average of 1 wicket during the first five overs which has been a big blow to India. South African opening batsman Jacques Kallis would look to exploit this weakness in the Indian bowling department. Kallis has been a prolific scorer (runs scored 174) on whom the Proteas depends to provide them with a solid start.

Interesting to note that South Africa has played the spinners better in this Championship. According to Castrol Index, as many as 65% of the South African wickets have fallen prey to the pacers. In view of this, it would be wise to deploy an extra pacer in the Indian squad to exploit this opportunity.

The Bowling Efficiency (BE) of South Africa has been steered by a superb performance of their leading wicket taker (8 wickets) Wayne Parnell. Parnell has given away runs at an economy rate of 5.13 and conceded a meagre 10% of boundary balls. Parnell would be used diligently as South Africa would be aware that Batting Momentum (BM) of India has slid from a high of 270 to 196. But can India raise its performance to break the winning streak of South Africa?