IND vs SA | Vizag Day 1 Talking Points: Faf du Plessis’ passive captaincy and pacers' lack of plan B

10/02/2019

The first day’s game has been called off post-tea due to incessant rain in Vizag but not before Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal make South Africa sweat hard in the humid conditions. Faf du Plessis’ lack of imaginative captaincy also made the day a difficult proposition for the visitors.

South Africa pacers not bad, but were they good enough?

Ian Chappell, in his blog for Cricinfo, wrote about how climatic changes have been a huge detriment for sports, and cricket in particular, which operates under heavy sunlight and have a direct impact on the game. The best demonstration of it could be felt in Vizag today, as, after a few hours of overcast skies, the Sun god was in full force, leaving South African players drained, literally.

The wicket was flat enough to dispirit any pace bowlers and coupled with the humid conditions, they had a tough day out in the middle. If anything, only the first 10 overs had seen some good bowling from the Saffers but the edge was not carrying and there was no real pace off the pitch. Kagiso Rabada was bowling in low 140s, fairly good enough on those conditions to draw an edge or two, and Vernon Philander was on 120s. It was the contrast that could have made the Indian opening duo uncomfortable, but so obvious was their tactics that Rohit Sharma adopted just two different stances, and countered them in a beautiful manner.

Batting against Rabada, he batted outside of the crease - something that helped Virat Kohli in England last year - and with Quinton de Kock standing up, he played inside the crease against Philander. His strike points were easy to the eye and there was a chance for the African pacers to exploit the vulnerability in his forward press to drawing him forward. However, so immersed were they in playing the long game that they tried to keep the run flow in check, instead of trying an attacking length to dismiss Rohit. As the maxim goes, “Morning shows the day”, this might just be what the “doctor has ordered” for the home season. And South African pacers are here for a long winter. Don’t tell later that you weren’t warned.

Maharaj failure points finger at South Africa’s lack of planning for long-term results

Shane Warne shone through in the unfavourable conditions in Australia, suffered the worst in India. Muttiah Muralitharan did some historic damage at home, and in India, he had no real impact. Moeen Ali’s exploits against India in England is well documented, yet the fate that he had to suffer in India in 2016 is there for everyone to see. Simple theory is that a good spinner is not always going to be great in favourable conditions, because much of spin bowling is down to practice as much as it is about raw skill.

In the context of the game today, have South Africa done enough to make Maharaj prepare for the sojourn, especially for the ongoing tour? In order to avenge the 2-0 thrashing they suffered at home, South Africa made pacy and bouncy conditions against the Lankans, despite knowing clearly that when they play their next Test match, it would be Maharaj who would be their most important weapon. Maharaj has actually been South Africa's best bowler away from home since 2016 against the top nine teams, with an average of 26.3 and the lack of idea that Indian conditions pose to create the vastly different performance he conjured up today.

With a Sri Lanka kind of approach, South Africa have ensured they have been behind the eight ball. Sri Lanka’s made to order pitches at home never needed them fielding more than one pacer at home and as a result, Kasun Rajitha and Lahiru Kumara, who had starred in a Test win in Barbados last year, didn't play a Test again until December until their next away tour came along. Understandably, they were rusty against New Zealand and had added no new skills to their bowling.

Maharaj, playing mostly at home, had the luxury of the relentless pressure being exerted by the pacers from another end, and when batsmen tried to cut loose against him, he added wickets to his name. Bereft of that comfort in India, Maharaj seemed completely out of depth and apart from a scourge of half-volleys, he could do nothing really creative. Peril of the system that it can produce short-term results but will be distractingly negative in the away tours.

Faf’s passive captaincy lays bare South Africa's problems

First and the most important rule of leading a side in India - pray your deity so much that you can’t lose a toss in India. Second - if the first doesn’t work out due to your lack of devotion - then you can’t afford to have a minute of slack while leading the side. Proactive should be your middle name. Unfortunately, for Faf du Plessis, who wore a resigned look after losing the toss today - eighth straight toss South Africa had lost in Asia - none of the above two came to fruition.

The pacers lacked any basic understanding of the wicket after first few overs of quality bowling, albeit it was very difficult to assume from the way Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma dominated them, Faf looked bereft of ideas. He used Keshav Maharaj, Dane Piedt, and Senuran Muthusamy and even though none of them having any impact in the game, he didn’t bring Dean Elgar in whatever amount of game was possible on the first day of the Vizag Test.

Although it was too much to say that Dean Elgar would have been any difference, by not bringing in, Faf didn’t make a good case of his captaincy. In the last tour to India, Elgar was South Africa’s better spinner, although Imran Tahir was picking wickets, and that was something Faf forgot in totality. Instead of staying to the formula that was clearly not working, Faf could have brought his desperation to the fore, and he shouldn’t have stayed passive as he did today.