The best rated team in the world in Test cricket was completely floored in the just concluded Test series in India. South African batsmen had no idea how to counter Indian spin bowling on Indian pitches. In the last test match played in Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium, where the pitch was not really a big time turner it seemed that the South African batters had lost the match in their minds even before the started batting.
While India managed to score 334 runs in the first innings. South Africa struggled to score even 121 runs, they scored 6 runs less than what Ajinkya Rahane scored in the first innings. India managed to bat even better in the second innings and reached a score of 267/5 in the second innings, with captain Virat Kohli scoring a nice 88 and Rahane getting his second ton of the Test Match. Setting a difficult total of 481 runs for the Proteas.
The South Africans had more than 160 overs to try and achieve the target. But right from the onset the did not try at all to get the runs they were only focused on blocking the ball. So the game started becoming more and more dull. The first wicket went at 5 in the last ball of the 4th over. The next wicket went at a score of 49 in 42.4 overs. Throughout their entire innings the Proteas maintained a run rate of 1 run an over. Miserably slow by the standards of modern cricket and even in old days this rate of scoring would have been considered extremely boring.
Some of the best batsmen in the world like Hasim Amla and AB De Villiers also batted miserably slow. So slow that they created a world record of the slowest partnership(minimum 200 balls) in the history of the game. Amla and Devilliers partnership was of 27 runs in 41.5 overs. The next partnership between Faf Du Plessis and Devilliers was the second slowest in the history of the game Faf was finally floored by Jadeja, who had an extremely good series with the ball.
The wicket of JP Duminy was taken quickly by Ashwin, but the Protea wicketkeeper Dane Vilas gave a strong resistance for the next 13 overs. Till tea it seemed like South Africa will manage to save the match but the game completely changed after Tea. Umesh got the wicket of Dane Villas and Ashwin go the wicket of De villiers, yes the same Abraham Bejamin De Villiers who scores at lightning pace scored only 43 runs in 297 balls, some of the boundaries he got were of the outside edge of the bat.
The next three wickets fell fast and South Africa were all out for 143 runs. It would have been much better for Test Cricket had South Africa been more positive in their approach and scored faster. It would have been better for Test Cricket as well. From a cricket fan's point of view the performance of Hasim Amla and De villers was very disappointing to say the least.
De villers and Amla did not do justice to the people who came to see them bat, even if South Africa had managed to salvage a draw, the game of cricket would have been the loser. The main problem was not in the pitch but in the minds of the South African batsmen. The horrors of the turning wickets of the previous three matches seems to be haunting their mind.
There are times when teams do play for a draw. However even in those situations batting is positive and runs are scored at a much faster clip. The South African batsmen were even blocking balls that they could have hit for boundaries.
Only that cricket team is capable of calling itself the best Test Team in the world which is capable of competing and winning Test Matches in all conditions anywhere in the world. The RSA performance in India proves that the Proteas currently do not deserve the title of the best Test Cricket Team in the world.
While India managed to score 334 runs in the first innings. South Africa struggled to score even 121 runs, they scored 6 runs less than what Ajinkya Rahane scored in the first innings. India managed to bat even better in the second innings and reached a score of 267/5 in the second innings, with captain Virat Kohli scoring a nice 88 and Rahane getting his second ton of the Test Match. Setting a difficult total of 481 runs for the Proteas.
The South Africans had more than 160 overs to try and achieve the target. But right from the onset the did not try at all to get the runs they were only focused on blocking the ball. So the game started becoming more and more dull. The first wicket went at 5 in the last ball of the 4th over. The next wicket went at a score of 49 in 42.4 overs. Throughout their entire innings the Proteas maintained a run rate of 1 run an over. Miserably slow by the standards of modern cricket and even in old days this rate of scoring would have been considered extremely boring.
Some of the best batsmen in the world like Hasim Amla and AB De Villiers also batted miserably slow. So slow that they created a world record of the slowest partnership(minimum 200 balls) in the history of the game. Amla and Devilliers partnership was of 27 runs in 41.5 overs. The next partnership between Faf Du Plessis and Devilliers was the second slowest in the history of the game Faf was finally floored by Jadeja, who had an extremely good series with the ball.
The wicket of JP Duminy was taken quickly by Ashwin, but the Protea wicketkeeper Dane Vilas gave a strong resistance for the next 13 overs. Till tea it seemed like South Africa will manage to save the match but the game completely changed after Tea. Umesh got the wicket of Dane Villas and Ashwin go the wicket of De villiers, yes the same Abraham Bejamin De Villiers who scores at lightning pace scored only 43 runs in 297 balls, some of the boundaries he got were of the outside edge of the bat.
The next three wickets fell fast and South Africa were all out for 143 runs. It would have been much better for Test Cricket had South Africa been more positive in their approach and scored faster. It would have been better for Test Cricket as well. From a cricket fan's point of view the performance of Hasim Amla and De villers was very disappointing to say the least.
De villers and Amla did not do justice to the people who came to see them bat, even if South Africa had managed to salvage a draw, the game of cricket would have been the loser. The main problem was not in the pitch but in the minds of the South African batsmen. The horrors of the turning wickets of the previous three matches seems to be haunting their mind.
There are times when teams do play for a draw. However even in those situations batting is positive and runs are scored at a much faster clip. The South African batsmen were even blocking balls that they could have hit for boundaries.
Only that cricket team is capable of calling itself the best Test Team in the world which is capable of competing and winning Test Matches in all conditions anywhere in the world. The RSA performance in India proves that the Proteas currently do not deserve the title of the best Test Cricket Team in the world.
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