India all-rounder Deepti Sharma led East Zone to the title in the revamped inter-zonal multi-day event held in April. In Chennai, however, all eyes will be on those who are back in the Indian team for the longest format – Shubha Satheesh, Sneh Rana, and Rajeshwari Gayakwad. “All those players are very important, and we did have a bowlers’ camp at the NCA. They were specifically given the red ball. They were told a few things to do while their weekly chart was organised and given to them. They had a practice session yesterday. They look absolutely fine. They are completely fresh and raring to go,” said Muzumdar.

For South Africa, their last Test was against Australia in Perth this February, which the latter won comprehensively. For them to do well, captain Wolvaardt and all-rounder Marizanne Kapp will have to step up, while spinner Nonkululeko Mlaba makes the most of the conditions in Chennai. “Getting to play more Test cricket regularly is awesome. So I think this Test will be a huge challenge for us and hope we come good,” said Wolvaardt.

Meanwhile, Kaur is not worried too much and is confident that the team will be able to adapt. ”Well, the last couple of days it’s been raining, but yeah, the wicket looks really good and we are also hoping that after maybe one or two days it will start turning. In the last two Test games when we played in Mumbai, the wicket was behaving very similarly. We don’t have much experience with Chennai wickets and the practice sessions will definitely give us some idea, and we’ll see how it goes,” said Kaur.