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New Delhi: After a successful five-match T20I series against Australia, the Men in Blue will take on WTC winners South Africa in the opening Test of the two-match series at the Eden Gardens on Friday, November 14. Shubman Gill and co. would be looking to do well in the home series at a venue that is hosting a Test match after 6 years.

Team India has received a big boost ahead of the Test series with Rishabh Pant coming back to the side from a foot injury, which sidelined him for three Test matches. He is set to replace all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy in the playing XI that defeated West Indies in Delhi.

After scoring two consecutive tons in an unofficial Test against South Africa A, Dhruv Jurel is expected to play as a specialist batter, a move assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate confirmed in the pre-match press conference.

After clinching the World Test Championship (WTC) title, Temba Bavuma’s South Africa will enter the first Test with renewed confidence. For the first time in years, the Proteas have a brilliant and well-rounded bowling attack, featuring a spin trio of Keshav Maharaj, Simon Harmer, and Senuran Muthusamy, while fast bowlers like Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Corbin Bosch are also in the mix.

Here are some records Indian players could break in the series

Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill needs 161 runs to become the second-fastest Indian batter to reach 3,000 Test runs. Former opener Virender Sehwag currently holds the record, achieving the feat in 55 innings. Gill also needs one century to become the Indian batter with the most hundreds in a single calendar year.

The Indian captain needs four maximums to become the ninth Indian batter to smash 50 or more maximums in Test cricket. The other batters in the list are Virender Sehwag, Rishabh Pant, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev and Sourav Ganguly.

Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul

Rishabh Pant needs two maximums to become the Indian batter with the most sixes in the history of Test cricket, surpassing Virender Sehwag, who smashed 91 sixes. KL Rahul needs just 15 runs to complete the 4000 runs in the longest format.

Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav

All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja needs 10 runs to become only the fourth cricketer in the world to score 4000 runs and take 300-plus wickets. The others on the list are Kapil Dev, Ian Botham and Daniel Vettori. He also needs 12 wickets to become the fourth fastest Indian bowler to 350 Test wickets. Kuldeep Yadav needs 12 wickets to complete 350 wickets in international cricket.