Why South Africa should not be too disheartened after losing proud away Test record
For the Proteas, their morale would be tremendously low now their proud unbeaten away record in Tests has been broken, with many experienced campaigners questioning their own calibre to play under the turning sub-continental conditions.
Barring Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis, nobody else managed to really whether the blustery storm that prevailed in the Proteas second innings. AB de Villiers and JP Duminy looked out of sorts and on the rank-turners, their techniques were really questioned.
Now that both the series and record is lost, all the Proteas can do is to go home with a 2-0 loss, simply ensuring they finish the series at least with a draw and not on the receiving end of a 3-0 hammering.
Amla definitely missed the class of Dale Steyn in Nagpur, where his reverse-swing would have really checked the Indian score. The inexperience Simon Harmer and inconsistent Imran Tahir did not afford them to emulate Ashwin and Jadeja’s geniuses.
As for the batting, Stian Van Zyl has virtually flopped in every innings and newly-promoted wicket-keeper Dane Villas found the conditions quite challenging, both as a keeper and as a batsman.
The rest of the batting also looked clueless when it came down to batting as a unit. The experience of De Villiers and Amla could not get the consistency as they would have liked.
Nevertheless, the Proteas should take pride from the fact that they are still number 1 and it is not for the first time they have lost an away series. Back home another series await them, where they have a potential chance to make amends for what happened here in India.
England, who would be touring South Africa in December, also lost their recent Test encounters in UAE against Pakistan.
Plus the Proteas have many consolations for their failures. The conditions were too challenging for most of their batters and the rank-turners do not justify their true batting prowess.
Du Plessis and Amla are all world-class players and a sole away series defeat not really make any difference to their class. Dean Elgar again showed why is an ideal Graeme Smith replacement, as he consistently showed he has the serenity and quality to play on the slow, flat sun-continental wickets.
Duminy, who would have been the real concern, also showed glimpses of his true class, playing a grinding 35 in the first innings and a nice 20-odd in the second under the deteriorating surface (where 40 was the highest individual score) in Nagpur.
De Villiers though looked below par in Nagpur, but there can hardly be any scrutiny regarding his quality as we all know.
Steyn and Vernon Philander’s injury as wrong intervals plunged the Proteas deeper into misery in this series. Morne Morkel nevertheless bowled his heart out and was responsible for creating crucial breakthroughs.
Harmer was playing his second away tour, after a brief outing in Dhaka and considering his performances, he has lived up to his expectations, bowling in a consistent line and varying his pace and picking up a bulk of Indian wickets along with Imran Tahir, who had a five-wicket haul in the second innings.
The Proteas spinners, as rightly explained by Russell Domingo conceded far more runs in between the wickets they got which allowed India to surge ahead in both the Test matches.
So the chips, as expected would definitely be in a low ebb, but there are brighter things to look forward to for them. England Series at home gives them a big opportunity to inflict a big humiliation upon Alaister Cook and co and they would definitely be savoring their chances.
As far as this tour is concerned, they have won both the T20Is and One-Dayers, as against most odds and they deserved both the two victories. This tour has definitely been fruitful to them, not only in terms of success in limited-over formats but also in terms of experience gained by players like Villas and Harmer.
The series could end with more positives if they field Temba Bavuma for the last Test, for his performances deserve him a chance.