As India gear as much as face South Africa within the first Check at Eden Gardens from Friday, skipper Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja can have particular person milestones in sight alongside the workforce’s push to strengthen their ICC World Check Championship marketing campaign. India enter the sequence on the again of constant red-ball kind, with a house win towards West Indies and a drawn sequence towards England earlier than that. With each groups seeking to make an early assertion within the two-match sequence, the opening Check in Kolkata holds added significance for India’s key performers. Gill, who has been in elegant contact this yr, wants 161 runs to succeed in the three,000-run mark in Check cricket. The proper-hander has up to now racked up 2,839 runs in 39 matches at a median of 43.01, together with 10 centuries and eight fifties. His greatest rating of 269 stays a profession spotlight. In 2025, the Indian captain has already scored 979 runs in 15 innings at a formidable common of 69.92, with 5 centuries and a fifty. KL Rahul, returning to the format as a dependable opener, is simply 15 runs wanting 4,000 in Checks. In 65 appearances, he has gathered 3,985 runs at 36.55, registering 11 a whole bunch and 20 half-centuries, with a high rating of 199. This yr has been his greatest within the format, scoring 745 runs in eight Checks at a median of 53.21, together with three centuries and three fifties. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, too, stands on the point of a uncommon double. The left-hander has scored 3,990 runs in 87 Checks at a median of 38.73, with six centuries and 27 fifties. With 338 wickets to his identify, Jadeja is simply 12 shy of 350, and will probably be a feat that might make him solely the second Indian after Kapil Dev to attain the mix of 4,000 runs and 350 wickets in Checks.

India will probably be seeking to carry their momentum into the sequence opener, with milestones including an additional layer of motivation for a few of the high names at Eden Gardens.India squad for first Check: Shubman Gill (C), Rishabh Pant (WK) (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Akash DeepSouth Africa squad: Temba Bavuma (c), Corbin Bosch, Dewald Brevis, Tony de Zorzi, Zubayr Hamza, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Aiden Markram, Wiaan Mulder, Senuran Muthusamy, Kagiso Rabada, Ryan Rickelton, Tristan Stubbs and Kyle Verreynne