Kagiso Rabada ruled out of second India vs South Africa Test in Guwahati

South African skipper Temba Bavuma ruled out pacer Kagiso Rabada for the second Test against India, set to start in Guwahati on Saturday.

Rabada failed to recover from the rib injury, which kept him out of South Africa’s win against India in the first Test in Kolkata.

“Kagiso has been ruled out of the second Test,” said Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma at the pre-match press conference at the Barsapara Stadium on Friday.

Bavuma added that South Africa will finalise its team combination only on Saturday morning. “This wicket looks a lot fresher and will be more consistent in terms of variability compared to Kolkata. We will have another look in the morning and decide.”

The South African skipper expects the Guwahati surface to behave like a typical subcontinental one.

“I think it will be more of a traditional subcontinent wicket – good for batting in the first two days, and then from Day 3, the spinners should come into play. So I think all the fundamentals that come with playing in the subcontinent [would be needed].

“The first innings becomes crucial from a batting point of view to really set the game up. And your spinners, in our case, Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer, supported by Aiden [Markram], let them come into the game in the latter half,” said Bavuma.

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Bavuma also suggested that the toss wouldn’t be a defining factor in the game. “But in saying that, you want to win the toss. You know the advantage of batting on Days 1 and 2. So I think that still becomes an advantage, but not such a deciding factor.”

South Africa is on the cusp of a first Test series win in India in 25 years. Bavuma, though, insisted that his team wouldn’t be on the lookout for a draw in Guwahati to close out the series.

“Ultimately, in every game, you’ve got to play to win. It’s not about protecting the lead that we have. We want to play from the front and continue to do so.

“We’ll play what’s in front of us. We don’t want to go in there with that defensive type of mindset. Whatever opportunities are there within the game, we’ll look to be ruthless and take them,” said Bavuma.

Published on Nov 21, 2025