Indian cricket governing body (BCCI) has confirmed a visit to South Africa to play three matches of bilateral series between South Africa and India from 26th December 2021 to 15th January 2022. The test series South Africa vs India 2021-22 will be part of the ICC World Test Championship 2021-2023. The first test of the tournament will be contested from 26-30 Dec 2021 at Centurion Park, Centurion, then the second and third tests will take place at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg on 3rd January and 11th January 2022.
The test series played between South Africa and India is called Freedom Trophy that is devoted to Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. The freedom trophy was inaugurated first time in 2015-16 and its second edition came in 2019-20, now this will be the 3rd edition. India has won this title 2 times in which Virat Kohli has scored the highest runs and Ravichandran Ashwin is the leading wicket-taker. Currently, Virat Kohli is the captain of the Indian cricket team in all formats, and Dean Elgar is the test captain of South Africa.
Currently, the Indian team is at the number 2 position in ICC Test ranking and South Africa is positioned at number 6. Both the teams are so excited for this upcoming tournament where India will try to win the trophy for the 3rd time and Africa will like to win the title of Freedom Trophy for the first time. The last test match between South Africa and India was contested on 2 October 2019 at JSCA International Stadium Complex, Ranchi, where India achieved a victory by a big margin of 203 runs.
This 3 test match series is going to be India’s first project after the conclusion of ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2021. On the bouncing & moving surface of South Africa where pacers get the advantage, it will be interesting to see how Indian batters handle South Africa’s pace attack. Indian team bowling in test cricket has also improved a lot and the Indian team has proved it against Australia, England in the last few years. Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Shardul Thakur are the key pacers on the Indian side.