By D. Vijeth

India came to South Africa with a great sense of pride after 16 bilateral wins in Indian conditions dismantling the West Indies and Sri Lanka. Understandable though, Virat Kohli and the head coach, Ravi Shastri asserted that this is the best squad ever visited South Africa and were pretty confident of turning the tables.

However, history speaks for itself.  All the Asian teams, let alone India find it well-neigh impossible to win, playing South Africa in South Africa.  India first toured South Africa in the year 1992 and has since managed to win just 2 games, negotiated 7 drawn encounters, losing 8 matches out of 17 played.   The figures look anemic to say the least.  India last won the 1st Test match of the three matches in South Africa in the year 2006-07 under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy before losing the next two.

To substantiate the above numbers, India found themselves really out of order in the 1st Test Match against South Africa, certainly not the way No.1 test ranked team should have played.  Winning the next two matches and sealing the series would be a huge claim to make.  What India can do best is to draw South Africa as close as possible to the jaws of defeat.

With the 2nd Test Match starting today, India has to get their act together if they really have to make an impact.  Indian bowlers have done a magnificent job to curtail the proteas on both the occasions in the first match, which of course is a strong indicator that the bowlers will be on a roll for the rest of the series as well.  However, it would be a herculean task for the batsmen to score at will on these seaming pitches. If India has to taste victory, the likes of Rohith Sharma and Virat Kohli, who are in sublime form, have to inevitably spend lot of time at the crease.  Couple of good partnerships is crucial to put a huge score on board.  If not this time, if not with the current squad which looks very potent on paper and with a 6-1-4 combination, it’s never. On a positive side, the Indian team has always shown that extra aggression under Virat Kohli’s captaincy and if that aggression is displayed again here, I must say India can send jitter waves to the South African dressing room. Series is still not lost, Glimmer of hope   still remains….!!!