On India's tour of South Africa
The top two test teams clashed in 3 test series with the hosts looking for revenge for 0-3 thrashing from when they visited India in 2015. Indians, on the other hand, were hoping to improve their record in South Africa. India fought hard to register a win in the 3rd test and avoid a whitewash, but there is little doubt that South Africa were ahead for most part of this thrilling series.
Here are my key takeaways:
On the pitches
The bowlers have definitely had the upper hand in this series with pitches having variable bounce and lateral movement. South Africa wanted pitches with pace and bounce and skipper Faf du Plessis even admitted that they have an official to look after groundsmen for delivering the kind of pitches that they want. At Newlands (1st test), the first three wickets in 1st and 2nd innings of the test managed to score a total of 44 runs - lowest in South Africa since 1992.
At Johannesburg (3rd test), there was a lot of lateral movement and uneven bounce. Many including SA opener Dean Elgar felt that the pitch was 'dangerous' for player safety. While as a fan sitting home, it is hard for to say whether or not it was 'dangerous', it was certainly a minefield with a number of balls misbehaving right from Day 2. Pitch making is definitely an art, but the curators need to be careful to not get carried away. Nobody wants to watch batsmen getting hit or injured due to uneven bounce, therefore it would be better if curators lean on the side of safety.
Out of three tests, only the 2nd one went onto the 5th day and it made for an exciting series. In fact, it was the only test series in the history of the game where all 120 wickets on offer were picked up by the bowlers. While the sponsors may not be happy with matches ending in 3 days, there is nothing wrong with preparing such bowler friendly tracks.
South Africa's bowling line-up
South Africa's pace attack during the 1st test consisted of Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada and Dale Steyn. All four of them were ranked in the top 12 test bowlers at the start of the test match with spinner Keshav Maharaj ranked 16. Needless to say, this is an incredible bowling line-up and probably one of the best ones South Africa has ever had. Add that with the tough pitches prepared and Indian batsmen were always going to be tested. In fact, even the debutant Lungi Ngidi has bowled in really good areas, constantly troubled the Indians and made sure that South Africa did not miss Steyn after the 1st test.
India's selection choices
There was plenty of discussion with India excluding vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and picking Rohit Sharma in the 1st test. Rahane might have the best record in South Africa among the Indians, but the last time India played there was more than 4 years ago. More recently, he managed only 17 runs against Sri Lanka and looked awfully out of touch. Picking in-form Rohit who had 5 50-plus scores in his previous 5 innings was definitely the right call, irrespective of the outcome. Another decision which was not welcome by many, was the selection of Shikhar Dhawan over KL Rahul for 1st test match. While I personally like KL Rahul more, there was little to choose between the two in terms of form. I think the current Indian think tank prefers to have a left-right combination at the top of the order which is also why they promoted Parthiv Patel to open with Murali Vijay in the 3rd test.
The only decision which was probably incorrect and hurt India badly was the call to drop in-form Bhuvneshwar Kumar for the 2nd test. Initially, I didn't mind the decision - bowlers generally rely on conditions more than batsmen and to pick a bowler for certain kinds of pitches made sense to me. If merely form was considered, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin (#3 and #5 in the test rankings) would make the XI every single time. In fact, India has rested Kumar in India as well as West Indies on the basis of conditions, but his performance in the 3rd test (with bat and bowl) proved he should be the 2nd player to make the playing XI in the upcoming series versus England.
India's performance
India has always had trouble with winning tests in South Africa, with just two wins over the past 6 tours. One of the major issues India has faced is the inability to take 20 wickets. The current line-up seems to have done a much better job in this area having picked all 60 wickets on offer, but they will do well to learn from their South African counterparts who were consistently a little better than the Indians in the first two tests. While the Indians bowled in the right areas, they served too many loose balls to score off and that was the difference between bundling the hosts out for 220 instead of the 286 they managed in the 1st test.
Having said that, the bowling has been a big positive in comparison to previous tours with all pacers chipping in with some good spells to keep India in the hunt. Bhuvneshwar was surely the pick of the bowlers, but I also enjoyed watching Ashwin bowl with control in conditions that were not too friendly. He has definitely grown as a bowler and it showed even though the series was dominated by quick bowlers. One bowler I do feel a little dejected for is Umesh Yadav, who toiled hard during a long home season only to be rested in helpful conditions for newbie Bumrah.
What will disappoint the Indians is their fielding and batting effort in the series. India's constantly changing XI means the fielders in slips keep rotating and India has continued to drop catches in the slip cordon on a regular basis. This is an aspect India certainly needs to work on and they are aware of it. India produced a lot more chances than they have previously, but dropping catches on a consistent basis definitely hurt their chance and let the game drift away from them.
When you look at the batsmen picked for the series, apart from KL Rahul, every batsmen in was part of the 2013-test series in South Africa. Even though there were no practice games on offer, I expected India's batsmen to perform better by the time the 2nd test match started. As a fan, to see Pujara get run out twice in a test match was really infuriating. I certainly expected more runs from Vijay as well and he should have converted his 46 in the 2nd test to a big one. It could have been the difference between a loss and a draw in the 2nd test. Both Vijay and Pujara did well in the 3rd test on a tricky pitch, but it was too late for India's chances in the series. It would be unfair to not mention Rahane's little gem in the the 3rd test when he took blows to this body and yet carried on to set a solid target for South Africa to chase.
Virat Kohli, on the other hand, has taken his game to another level. Even when almost every batsman on both sides looked uncomfortable in the 3rd test, skipper Kohli was determined and seemed to be in control. Any debates around his ability to bat in tough conditions can be put to rest. Looking at the age of this batting line-up, it is likely this group (or the majority of them) will travel to South Africa again and hopefully, they will put up a much stronger performance to give India a serious chance at their first series win in South Africa.
Virat Kohli's captaincy
With India's loss in the 2nd test, Graeme Smith questioned if Kohli was a long term captaincy option. Smith talked about how his energy and intensity brings the best out of him, but may impact other players in the wrong way. This came on the back of an article by Ramchandra Guha which talked about the power enjoyed by Kohli in the BCCI. Smith mentioned that Kohli needed a person in the support staff to challenge him constructively and help him grow.
While Kohli is no doubt a powerful individual in Indian cricket, to assume that there isn't anyone to challenge him is an unwarranted assumption. I am not sure if there is enough evidence for the same. In fact, there have been multiple instances in the recent past where he has given credit to other players for an idea. In the India-Australia test series, Kohli gave Rahane the credit for picking Kuldeep Yadav in the final test that helped India clinch the series. In one of the LOIs against Sri Lanka, Rohit Sharma advised him on who should bowl the penultimate over and Kohli was all ears and took the suggestion. Therefore, I am not quite certain that Smith's assumption is valid.
Kohli has come a long way since the Australia tour when he first captained India in tests and this long season away from home will surely test him. There will be games lost on these away tours and how he manages the team will be key. There is no doubt that there is a learning curve for him as a captain and I am certain that he will evolve, just like he has evolved as a batsman.