Ind SA 2nd Test - India Face Confident South Africa

Kolkata: Their number one ranking under threat, a desperate India cannot settle for anything less than a win when they go into the second and final Test against South Africa, who might have to take the field without inspirational captain Graeme Smith.

Smith has been rendered a doubtful starter because of a finger injury he sustained during practice on Friday and a final call on his availability will be taken on Sunday.

Having crushed India by an innings and six runs in the first Test in Nagpur, South Africa lead the two-match series 1-0 and they just need a draw at the Eden Gardens to snatch the top spot in the ICC rankings from the hosts.

With both the series and their Test ranking at stake, India have been bolstered by the return of VVS Laxman, who is all set to make a comeback at his happy-hunting ground where he scored a 281 in the second innings to script an epochal turn-around in their Test against Australia in March 2001.

In the absence of Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh due to injuries, Laxman, who is back after recovering from a finger injury, will form Indian batting's backbone along with the ever-reliable trio of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.

The injury-hit Indian line-up was blown away by speedster Dale Steyn, who secured match figures of 10/108, in the Nagpur Test where an unbeaten 253 by Hashim Amla and Jacques Kallis' 173 also played a major part in the host team's loss.

Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh's lackluster form as India could not bundle out South Africa despite the good start given by Zaheer in Nagpur.

Harbhajan conceded 166 runs from 46 overs in Nagpur at an economy rate of 3.6 and in his entire bowling he had only one maiden compared to 19 in the match by his South African counterpart Paul Harris.

A green-top Eden Gardens might not have cheered Harbhajan at first sight, but the off-spinner will surely be happy to be back at his favourite ground where he picked 38 wickets in six Tests.

On a two-match winning streak, South Africa are high on confidence as they eye a win at the Eden for a rare series victory.

"The momentum is with us, we are focusing on what we can do best and are not thinking much about our opponents," said a confident AB de Villiers ahead of the Test.

Eden Gardens last hosted a Test in 2007 (November 30-December 4) when India and Pakistan played out a draw in a match that saw four centuries (Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Misbah-ul-Haq and Kamran Akmal) and one double century (Wasim Jaffer).

India have only lost two Test series at home in the last decade, to South Africa in 2000 and Australia in 2004.

Dale Steyn is on a roll. Bowling fast, accurate, and swinging it both ways. He has got the ideal support from Morne Morkel and Paul Harris. He knows his job is not done yet.

Team news

India's pace spearhead Zaheer Khan did not get much support from Ishant Sharma in Nagpur and the think-tank may bring in temperamental S Sreesanth back after his recovery from an injury. Laxman back in squad may be played at No. 3, it means Murali Vijay or Dinesh Karthik or Suresh Raina will be played at No. 6.

Squad (likely): MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar, Suresh Raina/Murali Vijay/Dinesh Karthik, S Badrinath, Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra/Pragyan Ojha, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma.

South Africa: South Africa will like to go in with the same XI, but it all depends on how painful Smith's finger fracture is. Should Smith be ruled out, Alviro Petersen is the back-up opener. It doesn't help that Mark Boucher is still not 100% with his back. He passed the gloves to AB de Villiers midway into the training session on match eve and did some low-back exercises.

Squad (likely): Alviro Petersen/Graeme Smith (capt), Ashwell Prince, Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, JP Duminy, AB de Villiers, Mark Boucher (wk), Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Dale Steyn, Paul Harris.

Pitch & conditions
There has been lot of talk surrounding the Eden strip especially after India's loss in the Nagpur Test. The BCCI reportedly asked curator Prabir Mukherjee to prepare a turning wicket to help India's traditional strength. But Mukherjee and CAB chief Jagmohan Dalmiya have denied this outrightly saying a wicket could not be prepared overnight.

Stats and trivia

• Virender Sehwag's 109 in Nagpur was only his fifth score between 100 and 150 out of 18 centuries.
• Among bowlers with a minimum of 100 Test wickets, Steyn's strike-rate of 38.7 is the second-best, behind only George Lohmann who took 112 wickets at 34.1.
• Steyn is also just five short of becoming only the fifth South African to have taken 200 wickets.
• Laxman and Harbhajan Singh are the big Eden Gardens players. Laxman's average at the Eden Gardens is 81.63 as opposed to a career average of 45.70. Corresponding figures for Harbhajan are 23.1 and 31.3

Match facts
February 14-18, 2010
Start time: 09:15 local (03:45 GMT)