By: Drcricket7 Staff
The boogeyman of the Nagpur pitch can now rest in peace after South Africa displayed yet another ordinary batting performance at the Feroz shah Kotla on Friday.
Having scored 334 in the first innings, thanks to the lower-order, India also made a resounding statement on their form proving that they are indeed the best side in the Test series. In reply, South Africa made 121.
Everything India did, clicked at Kotla. The hosts won the toss and might have lost a few early wickets, but came back strongly into the match on the opening day after Ajinkya Rahane’s gutsy knock.
On the second day, it was Ravichandran Ashwin who managed to strike it rich, this time with the bat. Later on, Ravindra Jadeja ripped apart the South African top-order.
For the Proteas, it was again AB de Villiers who, displaying great grit, stayed firmly at the crease. At the moment he is the only member of the team who isn’t strapped down by the falling standards of the South African team.
When the going gets tough, AB’s get going and that has been his success mantra through the years. If you are the best Test team in the world, you have to be able to play your best game in all kinds of conditions.
In the seventies and eighties if the West Indian team held sway over the Test playing nations, it was because they could play their brand of cricket on any type of surface.
The Indian team was faced with a similar kind of situation after their 2011 World Cup win at home. Those days India were the number one Test team in the world and their trip to England turned out to be a real disaster.
They were blanked in every department of the game, like South Africa are being treated in India, and had to come back home with long faces.
South Africa had a great chance at Kotla to undo their past, but they couldn’t change their reputation of not playing well against spin bowling.
By this time, Hashim Amla and his men, must have understood that it’s not about the pitch, it’s always about the mind-set and attitude!
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