By Niharika Raina

Johannesburg, Dec 17 (IANS): The 63-run win in four days at the Wanderers in Johannesburg in 2018 started a happy journey for India in overseas Tests. Though they lost the next overseas Test series in England and another one in New Zealand, back-to-back series wins in Australia, series victory in the West Indies and leading 2-1 in England in September present an improved image of India outside home.

"We can take a lot of motivation from that (Johannesburg 2018 win). We probably won in the toughest conditions of that tour. So that should give us a lot of confidence. South Africa is one place where we have not won a series yet, so we are very motivated to do that and that mindset is always to go out there in any country and win the series. We don't think of winning just a Test match here and there and we will do our absolute best to make sure we keep contributing towards the cause. We will take lot of motivation and belief from that win on the last tour," Virat Kohli had said in the pre-departure press conference when asked about the Johannesburg win.

With India now back in South Africa, the place from where the stunning overseas run began, Kohli and Co. have firmly set their sights to win a Test series in the Rainbow nation, something which has never happened in the past.

In their home series against New Zealand, India came up with solid performances from experienced folks such as Mayank Agarwal and Ravichandran Ashwin to youngsters like Shreyas Iyer and Mohammed Siraj.

But there are some chinks in the armour of the Indian team, notably the lack of runs from their senior batters Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane apart from Kohli's no-century show since November 2019 and an average of 28.4 in Tests this year.

Pujara has gone 42 innings without scoring a century (January 2019) and Rahane, despite a stunning 112 in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, is averaging only 24.39 in his last 16 Tests.

With no Rohit Sharma, their top-run getter in Tests this year, due to a left hamstring injury, Pujara, Rahane and Kohli in the batting order have to shoulder much more responsibility in conditions where there's a mix of pace, bounce and swing.

In the 2018 series, India were let down by the batting in the first two matches as South Africa took an unassailable series lead. Though the tourists closed the series with a win on a nasty pitch in Johannesburg, it was too late.

In terms of fast bowling, India are in full strength with Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami apart from Mohammed Siraj and Umesh Yadav. Ishant Sharma, who has featured in little competitive action since The Oval Test against England in September, has to regain rhythm to present a case for being included in the playing eleven at Centurion.

Coming to the spin department, Ravindra Jadeja and his like-for-like figure, Axar Patel, are not in South Africa due to injuries. With Ashwin and Jayant Yadav as the spin options, India will be pondering over how to continue their five-man bowling strategy, a plan which has been there in overseas Tests for nearly a year.

Jadeja was the only specialist spinner in Tests in England in August and September, keeping Ashwin out, a decision which divided opinions on social media. Apart from his left-arm spin, Jadeja gave India crucial lower-order runs in overseas Tests. But with him not there now, India might look at giving Shardul Thakur his spot with Ashwin as the main spinner.

If on-field issues weren't enough, then India has to keep off-field noise at bay. Kohli's press conference, where he directly contradicted BCCI president Sourav Ganguly's comments on him asking not to step down as T20I skipper, and then mentioning no prior information in being removed as ODI captain, has sparked a storm in the Indian cricketing circles.

He even quashed talk about his unavailability for the ODI series which follows soon after the Tests are done.

The prospect of winning a Test series in South Africa sounds exciting. But for India to do so, they need to fix chinks in their armour while keeping the outside noise at one-arm distance. Maybe then the circle which began at Johannesburg in 2018 will take full shape in 2021/22.