INDIA LOST TEST: A SHOCK TO MEN-IN-BLUE FANS

 

Where India lost the Test: Missing Kohli’s intensity, Pant’s slog, SA’s roller advantage

India's first defeat at Wanderers was down to a combination of factors.

Indian cricket team members leave the field after the second cricket Test between South Africa and India at the Wanderers stadium. (AP Photo)

Before this game, India had played five Tests at Johannesburg, winning two and drawing three. Their first defeat at Wanderers was down to a combination of factors, from Rishabh Pant’s hara-kiri and a porous middle-order to South Africa getting the heavy roller advantage and poor catching. Virat Kohli’s absence, too, proved to be a big factor.

Missing Kohli

Not only did India miss their best batsman on a treacherous pitch, they were also bereft of his intensity as a leader. Even during an elongated fallow period, Kohli has been scoring 30s and 40s and as a captain, he revels in tight situations, as was evident during India’s victory over South Africa at Wanderers in 2018 and more recently against England at Lord’s last year. With South Africa marching towards victory, shoulders started to drop in the field. Nobody tried to intimidate Dean Elgar with an in-your-face attitude. After the hosts crossed 200, India rather started to go through the motions.

That was the difference between setting South Africa a victory target which they believed was achievable and taking the lead to around 300 and making it almost improbable for the hosts. In difficult conditions, in a low-scoring game, those 60-odd runs could have mattered a lot.

South Africa’s Dean Elgar and Temba Bavuma celebrate winning the second cricket test between South Africa and India at the Wanderers stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, Jan. 6, 2022. (AP)

Pant came to the crease after Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane had put their bodies on the line, playing for their careers and more importantly, playing for the team. They took blows but didn’t flinch. But no sooner had Kagiso Rabada softened up Pant with a bouncer than he charged down the track and got out to an ugly waft. Contrary to common perception, the wicketkeeper-batsman has a pretty good defence and when he uses his attacking talent judiciously, he takes the game away from the opposition, like he did against Australia at the Gabba last year. But mindless dismissals have been piling up of late, suggesting that Pant isn’t learning from his mistakes.

Porous middle-order

A first innings middle-order implosion cost India dearly in this game. Between Pujara, Rahane and Hanuma Vihari, only 23 runs had been scored, as the tourists slumped to 91/4 from 49/1 at one stage. In the first Test also, India’s middle-order failed to deliver. But Rahul’s century and Mayank Agarwal’s half-century had set them up for a victory. At Wanderers, India opening partnership didn’t gel and except Ravichandran Ashwin’s knock at the first dig and Pujara and Rahane’s fight in the second, there wasn’t much resistance on offer.