South African cricketer Senuran Muthusamy leaves the ball during the fifth day’s play of the first Test match between India and South Africa at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on October 6, 2019. – India’s spin king Ravichandran Ashwin on October 6 joined Sri Lankan great Muttiah Muralitharan as the fastest bowler to 350 Test wickets in the first match against South Africa in Visakhapatnam. (Photo by NOAH SEELAM / AFP) /
Senuran Muthusamy gets Proteas nod over Keshav Maharaj
Left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy has displaced Test regular Keshav Maharaj and it is clear that batting is the motivation.
South African cricketer Senuran Muthusamy leaves the ball during the fifth day’s play of the first Test match between India and South Africa at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam on October 6, 2019. – India’s spin king Ravichandran Ashwin on October 6 joined Sri Lankan great Muttiah Muralitharan as the fastest bowler to 350 Test wickets in the first match against South Africa in Visakhapatnam. (Photo by NOAH SEELAM / AFP) /
Left-arm spinner Senuran Muthusamy has displaced Test regular Keshav Maharaj in the playing XI for the first Test against the West Indies.
Senuran Muthusamy gets Proteas nod
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The move has clearly been motivated by the Proteas batting struggles with Muthusamy an out-and-out allrounder with eight First Class tons to his name.
Formerly of the Dolphins, Muthusamy moved away from Kingsmead recently as he opted to make the shift to Potchefstroom.
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He has certainly developed his game on several levels and his selection ahead of Maharaj and Simon Harmer shows that the selectors have great faith in his efforts.
His first contributions are likely to be with the bat after Temba Bavuma won the toss and elected to make first use of the SuperSport Park pitch.
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With four frontline quicks in the playing XI it could be some time before Muthusamy gets his hands on the ball and he might well be relegated to speeding up the over-rate if the quicks are labouring.
What Bavuma said
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At the toss, Bavuma said: “We will bat first. Conditions on the slow side. But once the sun comes up, it should get better for the quicks so I want to put runs on the board.
“I feel nervous to be honest, I was hoping we’d lose the toss and have to field. I’ll look to enjoy as much as I can. Don’t really know what to expect but I’ll put my best foot forward. We have new and old faces, Aiden is back so is KP who is back from injury and will be in the middle order. De Zorzi and Coetzee will debut.
“Muthusamy and four quicks will be playing. Guys have done well in preparations. Chat has been similar to what it was in the ODI series against England, about how we want to play. Test cricket is different but we want guys to express themselves and give their best.”
Muthusamy played both of his previous Test matches on the 2019 tour of India.
Playing XIs
Proteas: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Temba Bavuma (captain), Keegan Petersen, Heinrich Klaasen, Senuran Muthusamy, Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Gerald Coetzee, Anrich Nortje
West Indies: Kraigg Brathwaite, Tangenarine Chanderpaul, Raymon Reifer, Kyle Mayers, Roston Chase, Joshua da Silva, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Kemar Roach, Shannon Gabriel
