India vs South Africa: 5 major challenges that could affect India's chances in 3rd Test

In the third and final Test match between Team India and the South African cricket team, both will have all to play for as the series is tied at 1-1. While India will be boosted by the return of the skipper Virat Kohli, they will most likely be without pacer Mohammed Siraj. The weather could also essentially play spoilsport in the third Test. South Africa will be glad to see their pace attack in sync and their skipper Dean Elgar in top form.

Ahead of the third India vs South Africa Test match, take a look at the factors that could affect India from the weather to South Africa's deadly pace attack.

The weather to act as spoilsport at Cape Town

In the second Test we saw a lot of rain at Johannesburg on Day 3, and now in the third Test in Cape Town, there is also rain expected. On Day 1 itself, there is a 60% chance of precipitation and 1.5 mm of rain is expected. While Days two, three and four are expected to be clear, Day five has chances of rain again. We will see high humidity through third India vs South Africa Test match, around 70% is expected. The weather is mostly unpredictable so essentially all we can do is hope for clear weather throughout the match.

Mohammed Siraj's injury could be out

One of India's vital pacers Mohammed Siraj could potentially be out for the match. He seemed to have picked up a hamstring injury when he pulled it in the second Test. Team India head coach Rahul Dravid gave an update on the possibility of Siraj making the playing XI in the third Test. "Siraj is not fully fit and we need to check going forward what is his fitness status. In the next 4 days, whether he can get fit and the physio will be doing scans," said Dravid. Ishant Sharma or Umesh Yadav could be called into the playing XI for the third Test in place of Siraj.

The Proteas skipper's sensational form

South Africa's captain Dean Elgar has been in superb form for the series so far. In the first India vs South Africa Test match, he started off very poorly when he got out on just his second ball for one run. In the second innings of the same match though, he was playing some wonderful cricket as he got to 77 runs off 156 balls. In the first innings of the second match, he played the waiting game as he scored 28 runs off 120 runs. But in the second innings, when South Africa were chasing, he scored 96* runs off 188 balls, just missing out on his century. The Indian bowling lineup will have to find a way to deal with him if they are to have a chance of limiting the Proteas' score.

Team India's batting order collapse

India's batting lineup relies too much on its openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal. The likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane have been very unreliable over the past few months. While they did manage to perform decently in the second innings of the last Test when they both scored half-centuries, they need to put in performances like that more often. Skipper Virat Kohli has also not been in the best of form and more is expected from him. He will be returning from a back injury so there is a slight doubt factor there as well. If these three manage to perform well, the pressure on the bowling lineup will also lessen significantly.

South Africa's deadly pace attack

In the previous match, all of Team India's wickets were taken by the South African pacers. They were in stunning form as at many moments they were just unplayable. All four of their pacers, Kagiso Rabada, Duanne Olivier, Lungi Ngidi, and Marco Jansen were superb. Rabada managed to take six wickets in the match, Olivier took four, Ngidi took three, and Jansen took seven. Jansen in particular looked very dangerous as he conceded only 31 runs in the first innings at an economy of 1.82 in his 17 overs. The Indian batting lineup will need to be wary of all four of them going into the third Test.

Image: BCCI