When he walks out for the toss with Temba Bavuma on Saturday morning, Rishabh Pant will officially become India’s 38th Test captain. The ebullient wicketkeeper-batter will be as aware as anyone else that he is only warming the chair for Shubman Gill, ruled out of the second Test against South Africa with a neck injury. But he will nevertheless savour the honour, coming as it does less than three years after a life-threatening car accident.

Time for turnaround

Once the unusually unflappable 28-year-old sets emotion aside, he will be seized of the need to orchestrate the turnaround in fortunes that the whole of the country is desperate for. By shooting themselves in the foot on a less-than-ideal surface at Eden Gardens, India find themselves in a must-win situation in Guwahati’s debut as a Test venue.