Cape Town: The ultimate challenge in Test cricket could be concluded as conquering the different conditions around the globe.
India, the No.1 ranked Test side in the ICC Men’s Test Team rankings, came to South Africa with a Test series victory in the Rainbow Nation eluding them for more than three decades.
In 2010, India managed to square the series – the only time prior to this they have managed to return from South Africa by avoiding a Test series loss – after an epic victory in Durban followed by a drawn Test after they had lost the first match of the series.
13 years later, the visitors came from a hammering by an innings and 32 runs to spectacularly bowl the hosts out for 55 and eventually level the series.
The quick bowlers took a wicket every 30 balls on average in the series, which is the third lowest ever recorded in a men’s Test series in the 21st century, an ICC report said.
It’s as good a sign as any of how difficult batting was in the entire series and barring South Africa’s 408 in Centurion, neither team managed more than 250 in any of the other innings in the series.
If Centurion was hard, Cape Town proved to be harder – 23 wickets fell on day one where a debutant (Tristan Stubbs) and a player playing his last Test match (Dean Elgar) were both dismissed twice to end their respective contributions with the bat in the match.
In fact, it took only 107 overs in all for the Test match to yield a result, making the second Test in Cape Town, which finished inside five sessions, the shortest (in terms of overs) in Test history.
South Africa might have had to settle for a drawn series, but in David Bedingham and Nandre Burger they have added two exceptional talents that should serve their Test team for long.
“The main aim is always to do well in Test cricket or first-class cricket," Bedingham declared after pulling his name out of the SA20 draft. On his Test debut, the 29-year-old looked at home in international cricket, countering India’s menacing pace attack with ease.
Burger, on the other hand, is a left-arm quick, one South Africa have yearned for long and seems more than ready for the international stage. He ends his debut Test series with 11 wickets, only behind Jasprit Bumrah’s 12.
In a Test where India’s character was bound to be tested, Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah stood tall to deliver knockout punches in either innings for India.
Despite the support pacers, barring Mukesh Kumar, not quite stepping up, Siraj and Bumrah were in a league of their own, especially at Newlands.
Siraj ripped through the South African batting line-up in nine unbroken overs, taking a six-wicket haul to bundle the hosts out for their lowest Test score since readmission. It was a statement and a half and one that India needed early in the Test to salvage the series.
When the victory was in doubt late on Day 1, with South Africa having bowled India out before the lead had ballooned substantially, Bumrah came roaring on Day 2, snaring a wicket in the first over of the day to push South Africa onto the back-foot.
He would finish with six wickets to keep South Africa’s lead in check despite Aiden Markram’s extraordinary counterattack.
Kagiso Rabada enhanced his reputation further with 11 wickets in the two Tests, including seven in the first Test.
His ability to take wickets could just put him in the top bracket of Test bowlers to grace the game. In 62 Test matches, the South African pacer has 291 scalps at an average of 22.05 and a strike-rate under 40.
Among bowlers to take 100 Test wickets, only two have a bowling strike-rate under 40, and only one of them has played since the 1900s - Rabada.
It speaks volumes about the strike force the lanky fast bowler is. In home Tests, his strike-rate goes down to 33.1 and the average too drops under 20, making him a formidable force the opponent batting line-ups have to overcome to beat South Africa in their backyard.
India couldn’t quite manage to do so in Centurion and ended up conceding the Test by an innings.
Aiden Markram had scores of 5 and 2 as he walked out to bat with a Test match to save. Despite his burgeoning reputation as a limited-overs giant, Markram hasn’t quite nailed his Test career thus far.
The average is in the 30s after 37 Tests and his form has been far from consistent. Watching his opening partner Elgar walk back one final time in Test cricket, Markram decided it was his time to take over.
If South Africa were worried about their stability at the top of the order with Elgar retiring, Markram put that to rest in an innings that could define his Test career.
The opener counterpunched and found the middle of the bat in a Test match where the others had struggled. His breathtaking 106 came off just 103 balls and gave South Africa a miniscule of a chance in a Test where their first innings had ended within a session.
This could be the innings that turns Markram’s Test career in the upward direction. Coming on a surface where 33 wickets fell in 107 overs, this was a treasured knock that would give South Africa much relief as they bid goodbye to one of their best Test openers.