Adding a different 'spin' to the tale: What has gone wrong with the South African batting?
The Mohali pitch, the venue of the first Test between India and South Africa, must have made the visitors feel very homesick. The first-day pitch looked to be suffering from premature aging and offered the kind of spin and bounce usually associated with a third-day pitch.
The number one ranked team in the world and highly decorated travelers South Africans had finally got a glimpse of what Indian conditions were all about and the word ‘test’ seemed befitting to define the contest.
Having being humiliated in their own backyard during the limited-overs version of the game, India decided to go all in. A trait which usually is reverberated by the new man at the helm, Virat Kohli himself, and didn’t hold back picking a bowling line up of either extreme pace or extreme guile along with a pitch tailor made to make the most potent knife in their bowling drawer look even sharper.
But what really stood out for me was the defiance of the South Africans. It seemed like they hadn’t read the script and there was a strong sense of disbelief among the Indian fans, who had expected the South Africans to simply capitulate in the adverse playing conditions, to actually see the South Africans perform during the first seven sessions of the match.
Versatility seems to be the greatest virtue of this great South African team and it does seem like they have a horse now for every course.
Now with the venue shifting to Bengaluru for the second bout and with a the pitch looking a lot more amicable to the visitors, the expectation was that this great South African side will dust off the odd defeat and the give the Indians a really good run for their money. But what ensued on the first day has been baffling.
Put into bat on a damn pitch offering little assistance to the Indian spinners who were the tormentors-in-chief in the first Test, the South Africans managed to score a measly 214 runs with 8 of the wickets falling the way of the spinners again.
They seemed to get out missing rather innocuous straight deliveries while playing for the spin and kept on finding ways to get themselves out and this up-till-now mighty and all-conquering batting line-up looked a shadow of their real selves.
So what has really gone wrong?
They say in cricket, for a batsman, it is imperative to play on the merit of the ball and not the reputation of the bowler, to not dwell on to the last delivery but rather concentrate on the next ball and this is exactly what the South Africans have done wrong.
It seems they have started playing the bowlers and the conditions more than the ball itself. Their constant expectation of some mischief from the pitch has turned rather delusional with them playing for the non-existent spin, with a lot of pre determination.
Application and grit have gone AWOL (Absent without official leave). The one man who can show them the way, Hashim Amla, has to now rise up to the occasion and bring the dwindling belief back to the batting lineup. They have got to start trusting their defense against the spinners more and put a steeper price on their wicket.
The Indian spinners have played the situation very smartly indeed, keeping it straight and simple, maintaining the pressure and giving no reason to the batsmen to feel welcomed at the crease at all, and patiently waiting for the South Africans to push the panic button and self-destruct.
Bengaluru weather washed out the Test which looked comfortably in India’s hands as the Proteas were already looking down the wrong end of the barrel. Now to make a comeback into the series, their batsmen will have to dig in deep and spend some time to get acquainted with the pitch.
We all know South Africa have the talent but when can they turn it around is the question, we all are eagerly waiting for that answer from the visitors.