India Vs South Africa : Cricket’s finest battle

The Test series between India and South Africa turned out to be quite a spectacle, perhaps not in terms of glitz, but the quality of cricket played. On testing pitches, both sides battled it out hard to give not only cricket purists but even those having a passing interest in the game, small contests to savour. Only the ending of the Test series, with India digging it out on the last day of the Test at Cape Town to conjure a drawn series, something that has never been done by any Indian side on South African soil, was a bit of an anti-climax. Nevertheless, it was one of those rare closely fought Test series between two best sides in the sport, and no one would have any qualms in repeating the view that it was a pity that there were only three Tests. Yet, these are relatively good times for Test cricket, even with dwindling spectators at venues. At Cape Town however, it was full house for most of the time, and why not. A cricketing contest between two best sides in the world in some fantastic pitches – it cannot get better than this. In some ways, it was a few notches higher than the Ashes series running parallel to this.

It was a close contest

It was the enigmatic Jacques Kallis who proved the thorn in India’s flesh on the fourth day, else struggling at 138 for 6, the home side could easily have capitulated quickly and India could have chased down a modest total to affect a series victory, which would have been the one of the best things to happen to the Indian Test side. Yet, there is some gap between the lip and the cup, and it was one of those cases of being so near yet so far. Tired Indian bowlers struggled first against Kallis and Boucher, and then Kallis with all of the tail. The wicket was not too demanding for the batsmen for a fourth day pitch and tables turned. Within a few hours, India not only lost its advantage, but allows the home side to sniff victory. Against Morkel and Steyn, the Indian batsmen did relatively well to survive the final day and draw the match and the series.

And this looked highly improbable after the hammering India got in the first Test at Centurion. Bowlers in the absence of Zaheer Khan looked meek and docile. Dhoni claimed it was the pitch on the first day put paid to any hope they had, but to be fair, it was a horrible outing for a side that, according the ultimate authority, the ICC, is the best in the world right now. India suffered an innings defeat, which they deserved to.

Bruised and having learnt their lesson, they came roaring back in Durban, which was again a very closely fought Test. In fact, this point onwards there was really nothing to chose between the sides, they were so evenly matched and the pendulum swung one was to the other, as if on cue. South Africa were as much in the game as India. Laxman’s invaluable innings of 96 proved to be the difference in the end, as the Proteas fell short of their target by 88 runs.

The series was also very special because South Africa hosts some of the bouncier and better wickets in the world. Most of their pitches have good bounce and something in it for the batsmen and bowlers, producing great Test matches. Both in Durban and Cape Town it was seen that even if bowlers looked like taking wickets all of the time with their pace, bounce and swing and the ball passing the bat closely millions of times, if batsmen were ready to apply themselves and stick it out in the middle, there is no reason why even centuries cannot be scored. A true contest between bat and ball is what every right-minded cricket fan would want, and that is what happened here, also producing close contests and exciting moments.

It is also a pity that pitches around the world are becoming flatter every year. West Indies, once home to the bounciest pitches and deadliest bowlers, hosts very flat pitches, except perhaps Barbados, which still retains some of its bounce that it had in the olden times. Even Perth, once known to be among the hardest and bounciest pitches in the world, is only a shadow of itself. The bounce and carry is still better than most pitches, but only relatively, and it contains no demons for the batsmen anymore.

As India prepares for the one day series to follow, one could only ponder over whether we shall see such good quality closely fought Test series anytime soon.