New Delhi: Fact 1: India came back strongly against host South Africa in the second Test Thursday to win and level the two-match series, having surrendered the first by an innings. The team deserves kudos for effecting the remarkable turnaround in adversity.
Fact 2: All — well, almost all — credit goes to the Indian speedsters for bowling their hearts out and avoiding a potential 0-2 scoreline.
Fact 3: Indian batsmen were a big let-down on challenging pitches, offering pace and bounce; this was borne out by the fact there was only one half-century and one century in four innings. On the other hand, the South African batsmen notched up two half-centuries and two centuries against a very competent and skilful Indian pace attack.
But amid the euphoria of having drawn only the second Test series in South Africa since cricket relations began between the two nations 32 years ago, whatever shortcomings were witnessed — chiefly the batsmen’s inability to play the sharply rising ball — are expected to be promptly brushed under the carpet.
Read that along with this harsh reality: India have not won a Test series in nine attempts in South Africa so far, while losing seven.
A few more facts before we go into detail. The Indian batting line-up, comprising seasoned batsmen like Virat Kohli and captain Rohit Sharma, failed to reach the 250-run mark even once in the four innings; the highest being 245 in the first Test.
In the second Test, India collapsed spectacularly in the first innings when their last six batsmen were dismissed without adding a run as the South African speedsters wreaked havoc — there were seven individual zeroes in a total of 153.
After the win, Rohit called the pitch bad and said there were cracks in it. He also asked the match referees to be neutral in their assessment of pitches worldwide while defending rank turners prepared to help home spinners in India.
If India didn’t lose the series in the South African den, so to say, it was because of the pacers, mainly Mohammed Siraj, who was adjudged the Man of the Match in the second Test win after he took a career-best six-wicket haul that set up the seven-wicket win.
Jasprit Bumrah was the other star performer and was named the Man of the Series. No praise is too high for the pacemen, including Mukesh Kumar.
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Missing focus?
As the Indian team went into the first Test since the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction on 19 December, and crucially without meaningful practice in a multi-day match, to quote Sunil Gavaskar, it is quite possible that the players were found out because of these reasons.
After the first Test defeat, Gavaskar had said that intra-squad matches were no good, as the intensity in such games was absent. The Indians had played an intra-squad match before the first Test, and that’s it.
Maybe it would have been a good idea for the team to collectively watch one of Gavaskar’s greatest knocks, of 96 against Pakistan’s rampaging spinners on a minefield of a pitch at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru in 1987, if only to learn a lesson in not giving up the fight in adversity.
Why, even India coach Rahul Dravid’s innings of 180 against Australia in Kolkata in 2001, a Test that India famously won after following on, is a must watch before any crucial series.
You also cannot completely brush aside the controversy generated over the transfer of Hardik Pandya from Gujarat Titans to Mumbai Indians and being appointed captain, and the rumour of outgoing Mumbai skipper Rohit Sharma taking a transfer to Chennai Super Kings, just before the South Africa tour.
It perhaps remained on the mind of Rohit, who went on a holiday with his family, perhaps to unwind. The controversy was not good for anyone, not just Rohit or Hardik, as it came on the eve of an important tour.
Amid this background — and in the absence of a regular Test wicket-keeper — India took the battlefield to conquer the supposed “final frontier”.
K.L. Rahul performed the wicket-keeper’s duty in both Tests, after Ishan Kishan had returned home, reportedly citing mental health issues. On the other hand, Rishabh Pant is still unavailable as he takes positive steps to recover fully and return, following his horrific car accident.
In this scenario, and with the burden of history at the back of the players’ minds, India locked horns against South Africa who have won their four previous home Test series.
Batsmen disappoint
India’s first Test defeat was largely due to the batsmen’s failure to tackle and master fast bowlers on pitches that assist them with pace and bounce. In the first innings, barring Rahul’s solid rear-guard 101, no one was really able to cope with the speed and movement of the ball.
The performance in the second innings was even worse, as the batsmen had absolutely no idea how to stop themselves from fishing outside the off-stump, folding up for 131, following the 245 in the first-innings.
Assisted by the pitch/ground conditions, South Africa’s four-pronged pace attack, comprising Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, debutant Nandre Burger, and Gerald Coetzee, was like a bull in a china shop. They bowled inspired spells in familiar conditions and underlined Indian batsmen’s shortcomings.
It needs solid technique and a lot of guts, like those of a Mohinder Amarnath or a Cheteshwar Pujara or an Ajinkya Rahane, to withstand and succeed against fast bowling of the highest order.
Like some of his senior teammates, young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal also failed. And so did Shreyas Iyer, who now needs to play a meaningful knock, something like his century-on-debut against New Zealand in Kanpur in 2021, to remain relevant in this format.
His place could become vulnerable when Pant returns, as Rahul would probably then return to the opening slot, leaving the wicket-keeper’s position for him.
Even Rohit and Kohli were undone by pace or the movement. Rohit’s scores read 5, 0, 39, and 16 while Kohli was a shade better with a grand total of 160 and Rahul made 113.
Almost all the Indian batsmen were caught in the arc between the wicket-keeper and point repeatedly while others were caught playing the pull. The hook and pull shots become an important part of a batsman’s armoury on pitches that have pace and bounce, like those laid out at SuperSport Park and Newlands cricket grounds (in South Africa).
Apart from guts, correct technique is also required while facing genuine quick bowling relentlessly and from both ends. Leaving the ball outside the off-stump is an art, and it needs to be developed to succeed in international cricket, more so in five-day Test matches.
This aspect will have to be mastered if India have to conquer South Africa in their den sooner than later — and elsewhere.
T20 or ‘Bazball’ effect?
The way Indian batsmen played their shots, it seemed they had taken a leaf out of ‘Bazball’, the aggressive approach that England national cricket team coach Brendon McCullum inculcated in his players there.
If not exactly ‘Bazball’, the airy-fairy shots the Indians played, and away from their bodies on the off side, clearly reflected an imprint of T20 cricket.
Generally, batsmen – and not just Indians – have forgotten to graft and grind the opposition to dust – much like Gavaskar’s 96.
And, now unconfirmed reports say that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is mulling to launch a T10 league, in addition to the IPL.
India and Pakistan, anyway, don’t play bilateral Test cricket, making the ICC World Test Championship (WTC) not exactly a true contest between Test-playing nations. And now if Indian cricketers are going to be forced two annual doses of shortest formats down their throats, the BCCI/International Cricket Council might as well disband Test cricket.
However, until the ICC, or the BCCI, takes that decision, the Indian board might do well to completely separate the Test team from the 50-over and T20 national teams.
The Test team should have Test specialists like Pujara and Rahane and bowlers like Umesh Yadav, and they should be paid on par with those playing the shorter formats. Only this way, perhaps, India can excel consistently in the most challenging format.
For the time being, the drawn South Africa series has taken India atop the 2023-25 ICC WTC cycle. That is a momentary solace, though.
Pitches to blame?
India’s win in the second Test came in the shortest period (in terms of balls bowled, 642) on a pitch that, at times, offered disconcerting bounce while a few balls kept low, like the Rabada delivery that bowled Shubman Gill in the second innings in Cape Town.
After the win, Rohit came down heavily on the Newlands pitch, terming it “bad”, the ICC and the ICC match referees, asking them to be neutral while giving pitch assessment reports. He pointed out that there were cracks in the Newlands pitch.
One is with Rohit when he refers to the danger to batsmen’s bodies. But whenever excess bounce or spin is discussed, it is argued that both teams play on the same pitch, so it evens out. Rohit particularly asked the referees — they are always from a neutral country — not to paint Indian pitches with a different brush in their reports to the ICC and a different one when assessing those outside India. Sooner than later, we will have an ICC reaction for sure.
The writer is a journalist based in Delhi and has covered cricket for three decades. He tweets at @AlwaysCricket
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)