South Africa’s mental resilience adds riveting twist to written-off tale
When Ravindra Jadeja went through the defence of Dane Piedt right on the stroke of stumps on Day 2, the flashbacks of 2015 ran through the minds of everyone who tuned in to watch. But what unravelled on Day 3 was not even a shadow of the events of 2015, utterly unrecognizable and contrasting.
Say you missed the entirety of the action on Day 3 after catching up with the first two days. Had I told you that South Africa were batting with two wickets left, you would probably assume that it was their second innings and that India are two wickets away from winning the Test because let’s be honest, in the wake of the events that unravelled late on Day 2, there was absolutely no evidence to suggest that we might see a fightback of sorts from the Proteas.
Once Ishant Sharma trapped Temba Bavuma in front within the first 30 minutes of the day, a South African collapse looked inevitable. After all, this was a batting line-up that had surpassed 200 just twice in their last 11 innings in the sub-continent. Today, they needed 302 runs to just avoid the follow-on. This was also a team that was beaten, bruised and battered in their last two visits to the continent and a team whose mind was filled with the scars of 2015, scars that have remained unerasable till date.
The two men who assembled to do the rescue job were Dean Elgar and Faf du Plessis. While the former averaged 19.57 in his team’s last venture to India, the latter averaged 8.57, a tally that was bettered by Morne Morkel in the very same tour. With Ravichandran Ashwin from one end and Ravindra Jadeja from the other turning the screws on them, all signs pointed towards a capitulation. By 10.00 AM on Friday, the countdown for a South African collapse had begun, but with every passing hour, the countdown got delayed further and by 3.00 PM, it was obvious that the collapse was never going to reach the shores of Vizag.
Every time it beckoned, every time it threatened, it was outpowered by high and strong waves in the form of Elgar and du Plessis first, and then Quinton de Kock. There was a striking resemblance between the Vizag weather and the South African batting on Day 3; gloomy and dark at times and while an outpour was expected, it never happened and eventually the darkness was outshone by a brighter ray of light that many thought would never come about.
Perhaps there isn’t much to read from today’s play. The pitch was flat, there were ample chances that were provided by the batters and fluffled by the fielders and from an overall scheme of things, South Africa are still a long way behind and in all honesty, might still go on to comfortably lose the match. But on a day where the series could easily have been lost, on a day where they could have easily let India dominate and stamp their authority, South Africa’s stubbornness to stay at the crease, willfulness to remain proactive and reluctance to throw their wicket away trumped and at times even disturbed the tranquility of the Indians, who, for the first time in almost a decade, had seen such a stern fight from their African counterparts in this part of the world.
Cricket is as much a mental game as it is technical, and today’s performance by the Proteas showcased it. Take the 2015 Bangalore Test between these two sides for example. On a pitch that offered next to nothing, despite their star man AB de Villiers scoring a nonchalant 85, Proteas succumbed to a modest total of 214. On Day 3 in Vizag, there was enough on the surface for the bowlers to exploit - the occasional delivery kept low, gripped, spat from the surface for the spinners and for the pacers, it reared off a length and almost resulted in Elgar’s undoing - yet there was a sense of clarity in the mind of the batters, who literally played every ball to its merit, forgetting about what happened the delivery before.
The last time the Proteas batted in India, they had indulged in the infamous “blockathon”, an innings where they batted 143 overs to score 143 runs. It was an uncanny plan to survive the Indian onslaught and while it did provide them better results than their headless approach in Mohali, Bengaluru and Nagpur, it still ended up being unsuccessful. Today, in contrast, the Proteas batters took it to the Indian spinners, smacking a total of seven sixes, reminding them that they were here not just to survive, but to fight and yes, dominate. Both de Kock and Elgar got to their centuries by smacking India’s best bowler over the fence, asserting their dominance in the tiniest of forms, yet doing just enough to show their courage, commitment and mettle.
Day 4 might very well see India set a 300-plus target and bat South Africa out of the game and even account for a scalp or two towards the end of the day's play. There is every possibility for the pitch to deteriorate further and perhaps even give birth to a few new demons that would end up assisting the Indian spin twins. But with their display today, the Proteas have shown the world that they are prepared for a dogfight and are ready to slug it out.
In a series in which the trophy was handed over to the Indian team even before the first ball was bowled, on a day where they were ought to be wondering how to kill time in Vizag after the premature end to the Test, South Africa, through sheer mental strength and resilience, have turned things around and breathed new life into the series. This might very well turn out to be a false klaxon but at least, for the time being, du Plessis and his men have given us enough reason to tune into the television and hope that the match and maybe even the series, might follow a script completely different to what everyone had projected prior to its commencement.
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