The narrative built around India’s 2021–22 tour of South Africa was that the No. 1 Test team was the favorite to script yet another historic series win – a first on Protea soil. And you wouldn’t blame the broadcasters this time – which have been guilty of serious series production in the past – for promoting the series like this. After all, India were coming into the series on the back of incredible performances in the longest format away from home. With consecutive series wins in Australia, leading in England before the final Test was postponed (the only glitch was New Zealand’s in the WTC Championship final), there was no doubt it would prove to be a handful for the India team. The South African team is still in transition.
Interestingly, India’s recent foray away from home began in South Africa in 2018, even though they lost the series. Faf du Plessis, Hashim Amla, Vernon Philander, Quinton de Kock, AB de Villiers, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn were in that team; Add to the mix a young Kagiso Rabada and the promising duo of Temba Bavuma and Aiden Markram. After losing the first two Tests, India made a good comeback to finish the series on a high with a win in Johannesburg. Jasprit Burma was the star to make his series debut for India, while a rejuvenated Mohammed Shami showed what he was made of.
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Despite the fact that South Africa is probably the toughest place to bat in, in 2018, Indian batsmen only managed a score of 250 once in six innings. South Africa, on the other hand, managed to score over 250 thrice, with two scores exceeding 300. Now, fast forward to the 2021-22 series; Part of that aforementioned narrative was that India’s batting is far better than South Africa’s and while both sides will be ruled by bowlers, the series will ultimately decide which side has the better batting. Injuries to Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill before the series pushed India back, so did Ravindra Jadeja’s unavailability. For South Africa as well, he lost the services of Enrique Nortje before the series and retired from their best batsman Quinton de Kock (after the first Test). Yet, such was India’s bowling prowess over the past four years that India’s batting has not really come under any scrutiny, despite the fact that India’s middle-order average is 34.85 since 2018. Number 3, 4 and 5 are Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane respectively. But, at the top of the series were India Bumrah, Shami, Mohammad Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Shardul Thakur and Ravichandran Ashwin. Indian bowlers average 24.03 in Test playing countries in the last four years. Next best was South Africa with 27.24. Clearly, it was a level playing field when it came to bowling.
And the first Test confirmed the story with India’s maiden win at Centurion and that too by a huge margin of 113 runs. And for all the fiery spells of Rabada, Lungi Ngidi, Shami and Bumrah, KL Rahul’s 123 helped him earn the man of the match award. India scored 327 and 174 and bundled out the hosts twice in less than 200.
South Africa was heading towards Johannesburg, and India had all the momentum. The tourists managed 202 and 266, South Africa made 229 and 243/3 and overtook India. Once again, Rabada, Thakur, Marco Jensen, Ngidi bowled with the poison but Dean Elgar was batting once again.
In the third, India’s scores were 223 and 198. SA made 210 and 212/3 to claim the win and with that the series. For the third time in the series, the man of the match award went to batsman Pietersen, while Bumrah took five wickets in the first innings and took 7 wickets for Rabada. Unlike in 2018, the difference in the team’s scores was not much, and despite excellent bowling performances through the series, it was only a matter of batting whittling down India this series. An additional 40-50 runs in the first and second Tests will headline the series in India’s favour. And when it comes to series like this, such close encounters, it’s always, always, about good margins and those precious extra runs that make the difference.
However, this is not to say that the difference-maker in the series was the South African batsman. Definitely not. But, the likes of the tenacious Elgar, a star to be formed in Pietersen and Bavuma, did enough, and certainly did a little better than their more famous and experienced counterparts to support their bowlers.
Rahul’s 123, Rishabh Pant’s 100*, Kohli’s 79, Mayank Agarwal’s 60, Rahane and Pujara’s fifties, Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari’s crucial 40s were nothing short of good and high-quality innings, but what the Indians lacked. It was a defined shift similar to one. Majestic 153 from Kohli in Centurion; Or Hardik Pandya in Cape Town from the 2018 series Whirlwind 96.
What India lacked was a batsman who cut a series above the rest. On his 79 runs, Kohli will return from this series with a top average for India – 40.25, while Rahul and Pant – with their centuries – take their average closer to 38. Rahane, Pujara and Agarwal end the tour with a below- average in their early 20s. For South Africa, Bavuma finished with 67, Elgar with 47 and Pietersen with 46. In the bowling chart as well, the hosts overtook India with Rabada, Ngidi and Janssen occupying the top three spots in terms of wicket-taking and bowling average for the series. ,
It was a closely contested series and India did remarkably well to put their opponents on the backfoot. Credit to Elgar and his team, who showed courage and character to fight the battle against Kohli & Co, but it was a big opportunity that India and skipper Kohli missed to add to India’s legacy of dominance overseas. With Pujara and Rahane at the forefront, tough questions will be asked once India returns home. Kohli’s own form will also be up for debate and the general consensus will be that the run machine is well past its prime. Pant’s performance with the gloves was a bright spot throughout the series, so was Thakur’s all-round effort and Siraj’s energy. Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav will return to India uncertain about their future, while Bumrah and Shami will feel the burden and despair of missing out on the story.
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