At 256-5, India needed a strong first session to pull things back. And in helpful conditions, a good bowling morning is par. What we got instead was below-par intensity and spraying the ball around. The moment Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj were taken off to try and preserve them for the new ball, South Africa were off. Gifts all round the wicket from Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna, and India looked hapless. Runs at a canter and the match was gone. By the time the new ball was taken, South Africa were in complete control. Just compare Nandre Burger, the South African debutant, to Prasidh, and things are clear. Shardul v Jansen or Coetzee is the second part of the story. India’s third and fourth bowlers weren’t there in the game, and this was as uninspiring as the 36 all out in Adelaide.
The moment you concede 136 in the first session in helpful conditions, you have lost the plot. And then, there was complete lack of application from the top order. Rohit Sharma played inside the line and it was a poor shot. Yashasvi Jaiswal got a peach while Shubman Gill, after getting set, played a forgettable shot down the wrong line. Shreyas Iyer was uncertain from the first ball and ended up leaving a huge gap between bat and pad. Only Virat Kohli lasted the course and played some fantastic shots, but when you are down by 162, you needed more than two batters to stand tall.
In every sense, this was an abject surrender. At no point were India able to build pressure. For two years now, Shardul hasn’t done much with the ball. Can India persist with him in Test cricket? With Mohammed Shami not there, the bowling stands exposed, forcing us to ask the question: where is the depth in fast bowling we were so proud of under Ravi Shastri and Bharat Arun?
We have indeed seen turnarounds before. After the 36 all out, Ajinkya Rahane managed to turn things around. Without Kohli, that was a miracle. So it is possible for sure. But to do so, India will need to show courage. Play the hard Test match game that South Africa did. Fancy loose shots in both innings cost India, and against an attack that was relentless, such shots were a needless luxury.
Rohit as captain and Dravid as coach have a lot of soul searching to do. While the final frontier won’t be conquered, India can salvage the series with a much better effort in Cape Town. At the start of the new year, that’s the least Indian fans will hope for.
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