The doomsdayers eventually had their say. India lost the Test at Durban and with it the series to return home empty handed from their 26-day tour of South Africa.
Yet, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s inexperienced bunch were not disgraced in defeat as they stretched the world No1 Test team to their limit and nearly upstaged them in the first match.
India had been written off even before they landed on the South African shores. It was not out malice but pure cricketing logic as the collective overseas experience of the top six batsmen was a mere 14 Tests, only two – Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay – had previously played in South Africa and they were pitted against a fearsome pace attack on bouncy pitches.
The batsmen also had the additional burden of carrying a famous batting legacy. However, after a testing two-match series, they have shown that they have the ability to walk the same path as Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman.
Barring opener Shikhar Dhawan and middle-order bat Rohit Sharma, all the others flourished, which was one of the prime reasons that India dished out a much better fare in South Africa than their previous two disastrous overseas tours in England and Australia where they were whitewashed 4-0.
The Indian batting display was the success story of the tour where Virat Kohli and Pujara led the way. Kohli was daring and did not hesitate to tackle the Proteas’ bowling attack head on while Pujara was solid in defence and stood out with his steely doggedness.
Opener Vijay too came good at Durban with a determined display and was unlucky to miss a century by three runs.
The highlight of the series, though, was Ajinkya Rahane, playing his first full Test series after being on the bench for over two years.
The 25-year-old Mumbai batsman put up a defiant show and improved with every outing. Rarely did he flinch when struck by Dale Steyn’s bouncers and more importantly showed admirable maturity in batting with the tail.
Had it not been for his audacious 96 at Durban yesterday, India would have ended up with an innings defeat.
India have truly unearthed a gem for the No6 slot. That Kohli, Pujara and Rahane were the top run-getters in the series is proof of India’s batting dominance.
The tourists should have won at the Wanderers where they dominated for four days before the hosts scripted a sensational fightback on the final day to almost chase 458 runs for a dramatic draw.
At Durban, Steyn nailed them.
There is no doubt that South Africa had to turn in special performances to stop the Indians, who can draw immense satisfaction from the manner in which they hustled the favourites.
Dhoni and Co are still a work in progress and need to improve on their bowling a lot if they are to regain world No1 Test status.
Experienced members of the attack – fast bowlers Zaheer Khan (90 Tests), Ishant Sharma (53 Tests) and off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin (19 Tests) – have to step up as India have 11 overseas Tests lined-up in 2014.
The batsmen have shown they are up for the stiffest of challenges and ready to write a new passage in Indian cricket.
