Philander brilliant but South Africa's first innings ultimately the difference in first Test win over India

Ajit Vijaykumar 21:22 08/01/2018
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  • Vernon Philander ripped the Indian batting line-up apart

    When the No1 Test team in world is shot out for 135 chasing 208 in an away Test, it might look odd to be anything but critical of it. But dig a little deeper than an obligatory scan of the scoresheet and the opening Test was not all doom and gloom for India.

    Firstly, full credit to South Africa for batting first on a pitch that had a lot of grass on it and then winning despite being without a crucial member of their pace attack in Dale Steyn in the second innings. Vernon Philander is a master in home conditions and he alone was enough to decimate the Indian line-up. Actually, he would have been enough for any line-up.

    The wicket at Newlands turned out to be a lot juicier than even the hosts expected; despite the severe drought in the region leading up to the match. The track became even more difficult to bat on on the fourth day after the third was washed out.

    India went into the match with next to zero preparation – which is completely their fault – and ended up conceding 286 on a spicy pitch. That’s where they lost the game as the South African pace attack was never going to let them anywhere close to that total. Apart from Hardik Pandya’s breath-taking 93 India’s batting did not live up to the mark, there is no doubt about it, but the fact is it was a 150-200 wicket throughout and the Proteas’ first innings total was where the game was effectively settled.

    In the second innings, Indian bowlers found their mark and dismissed the hosts for 130. The pace trio of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah clicked together, something that was missing in the first innings after reducing South Africa to 12-3. For all the brilliance of the AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis’ counter-attack in the first outing, it was not a (nearly) 300-run pitch. Remember, South Africa went in with just six specialist batsmen. Bumrah, especially, struggled with his line in his debut outing but once his nerves settled, he did what was expected of any quality quick on that pitch.

    As India’s pace pack found their zone, the South Africans struggled to put bat to ball and lost 10 wickets for 78 runs in their second innings. However, by that time Virat Kohli’s bunch had fallen well behind. Even with Steyn out of the attack, Philander, Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel were always going to be lethal as the ball jagged around at acute angles. There was never going to be any escape.

    India will take a long hard look at their performance in the first Test and will revisit their batting combination – namely the non-selection of KL Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane.

    However, Test series of three matches or more are always decided by which team has the more potent and consistent bowling attack. That was the case in the Ashes in Australia and will be the case in South Africa as well. The South African pace attack will not lose its quality overnight. The pitches for the next two Tests in Centurion and Johannesburg are expected to be even nastier than Cape Town. Good luck if you are a batsman.

    However, what the Indian bowlers can do is make sure than on pitches with so much help in them, they don’t concede 300. Good pacers should be able to dismantle any batting line-up on such wickets, day in and day out.

    The South Africans will be buoyed by their ultimately convincing win. But the Indians should not get too flustered. There is a lot more drama left in the series.

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