India completed the formalities on the third day of the Nagpur Test to seal a comprehensive victory that ended South Africa’s envious run of nine years without losing an away series.
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The Proteas had established themselves as the best touring side in world cricket but all it took was six days of cricket in two completed Test matches to put an end to it.
It was clear that the only way the Indians could bring South Africa down to their knees was by preparing wickets that catered exclusively to spinners. The hosts got exactly what they wished for, winning in Mohali by 108 runs and coasting to a 124-run victory in Nagpur. The results were achieved with remarkable ease.
India batted first in the two finished Tests, got more than 200 runs and just waited for Hashim Amla’s team to crumble against a three-pronged spin attack. The guiles of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra on such helpful wickets would have been too much even for the Indian batsmen to handle.
The Proteas never stood a chance. Had the visitors possessed some world-class spinners of their own, like England did when they defeated India 2-1 in 2013 with the help of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, the story could have been different. But Imran Tahir and Simon Harmer just couldn’t match the firepower of their counterparts.
Captain Virat Kohli and team director Ravi Shastri should be very happy with the result, following their morale boosting win in Sri Lanka. It will bring smiles to the face of the young Indian team as nothing succeeds like success. However, if the Indian management takes a step back and looks at the overall picture, it will realise that it has been a hollow victory.
Sure, runs have been scored and bagful of wickets taken against the No. 1 Test team in the world but they have been accomplished on wickets that never gave the opposition any chance.
While the Indians, like any hosts, are justified in preparing wickets that suit their style of play, the downside to that strategy is you don’t make any gains as far as player development is concerned.
No one knows if a batsman has improved his game to a level where he can bat for a day. And the management also won’t know if any bowler has added more variety to his bowling. A set template was followed and everything fell into place as and when it was supposed to.
Similarly, the South Africans should not be held accountable for this reversal as they couldn’t have possibly tried any harder. They were simply beaten by a side that had too many factors in its favour.
So while the end result has been excellent, the Indians should not let success get to their heads. They have defeated the No. 1 Test side in the world but that should just remain a statistic because deep down they know that it wasn’t much of a contest.
What they should do now is build on the ‘feel good factor’ of this triumph and look to improve on their game, especially their fragile middle order batting. Because they will face tougher challengers in the future and the pitches won’t be tailor made for them all the time.