Tour Diary: South Africa vs India 1st Test, Dec 2023
Although the lack of an Indian fightback was a bummer, the views, the friendly interactions along with the brilliance of KL Rahul, Rabada, Bumrah, Elgar and Kohli made the trip worth it.
Getting there
Having not watched any test cricket live since 2018, I had been hoping to squeeze some in by the end of 2023. India’s tour to South Africa provided the perfect opportunity, both in terms of timing and a country that has loads to explore. One additional motivator was to ensure I got to watch India’s golden generation in Virat Kohli, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Rohit Sharma in one final dance before they stop playing test cricket or retire altogether.
Convincing my wife and in-laws (who were initially planning to meet in Egypt for this vacation) wasn’t too tough. None of them had been to South Africa before, and my wife’s love for animals meant I just had to ensure there were a couple of days for Kruger National Park. We were also excited about getting away from the cold for a few days.
The Cape Town experience
We arrived in Cape Town as the 3rd ODI was going on in Paarl, about an hour away from Cape Town. As I drove the rental car off the lot, my focus was divided between getting used to driving on the other side of the road again and listening to the score on cricket commentary, something I miss in the US. After settling into our accommodations and picking up some groceries, we decided to drive by the coast to get an early taste of the views of Cape Town, and we were not disappointed.
Over the next 4 days, we were able to do most touristy things in Cape Town - from the cable car up to Table Mountain, the scenic drive to Simon’s town to see little penguins to taking a dip in a chilly tidal pool. My father-in-law was particularly impressed (having spent the last decade across Kenya and Uganda) by the infrastructure and how well laid out the city seemed. For me, Cape Town felt like the perfect mix of city-vibe (lots of neighborhoods to explore) with a lot of natural beauty - from the gorgeous mountains all around, the ocean in it’s pristine blue and the topography providing ample opportunities to take in the views.
During this time, I had the chance to meet Habib Noorbhai, a cricket researcher who has joined us for TLW podcast on a couple of occasions. It was wonderful chatting about his recent work around cricket, Major League Cricket, things to do in Cape Town, and all things South Africa. He was right about South Africa being sports-crazy country, everyone we went we saw people wearing Springboks and Protea jerseys and caps along with some Manchester United and Chelsea shirts as well.
Off to JoBurg and the 1st Test
On Boxing Day, we flew over to Johannesburg. While having lunch at the airport, I asked the waitress if she could put the test match on the TV. After browsing through the channels, she realized they didn’t have the paid channel that was broadcasting the match. That was as much of a bummer as India’s batting performance as they were reeling at 121/6 with KL Rahul trying to save the day at the Centurion again.
With our Airbnb about 25 mins from Super Sport Park, we headed up to the Centurion in an uber. The game was still a little delayed to some more rain but things were finally underway at 25 past 10 local time. KL Rahul was absolutely brilliant, pouncing on anything that short or wide and keeping the runs flowing. When he was dismissed for 101, it felt like India had an about par score particularly considering they batted on pitch covered for more than a day and half.
Bumrah took an over to get his line right to South Africa’s right-left combination, but Siraj was on the money right away as he dismissed Aiden Markram. Dean Elgar batted superbly, punishing anything in his half or anything not short enough to score quickly, particularly against Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna. He found good support in Tony De Zorzi and debutant David Bedingham as South Africa cruised past India’s total with just 4 wickets down.
The atmosphere at the Centurion was possibly the most relaxed I have ever seen at a cricket ground. People enjoying the sun, grilling on the Eastern bank, kids playing tennis ball cricket and the band keeping the energy up in the stands. It wasn’t as formal or as expensive (ticket was 120 ZAR or just over USD 6, a beer was just 40 ZAR or USD 2.2) as my experience in England where folks sometimes lost their cool if another spectator moved while the over was in progress. And, it was better organized than the Caribbean where they ran out of water quickly and the scorer took a while to get the names of Indian players right.
As I headed up to Super Sport Park for Day 3, I noticed many rows of uniforms homes (townhomes?) as we passed the Midrand region of JoBurg. Developers seemed to have bought land in the outskirts of the city, and arranged them next to each other like Kagiso Rabada’s pitch map over the past two days. I was sitting in a different block with a view of wide long on or third man, and the vibe wasn’t exactly the same either. To start with, the band didn’t spend as much time in this block, and there were a number of young fans running around for selfies and autographs since we were very close to the dressing rooms.
I was hoping for India to restrict the lead to about 65 to have a realistic chance of making a game out of this. However, debutant Krishna in particular struggled to control his line and length as Elgar and Marco Jansen ran away with the game. The crowd was getting behind the Proteas, particularly cheering for any milestones (team or player). Thakur and Krishna could be blamed for not pitching it up enough, but one has to concede India didn’t have luck on their side. Put in to bat after 2 days of rain, a couple of edges not carrying through and Elgar surviving 30-plus not in control strokes on his way to 150.
Since I was watching the match alone today, I had a chance to interact with some locals. A man from Pretoria was sitting next to me with his son and some friends. He was very friendly and bought me a beer once he realized I was visiting the rainbow nation. Every time a bowler bowled down leg and was flicked for four, he went “oh that’s rubbish, can’t bowl there.” The U-19 World Cup scheduled in South Africa for Feb 2024 was also being promoted with a tagline of “Woza Nawe”. The Pretoria man had to google what that meant when I asked him about it, and he mentioned it was Zulu and not Afrikaans reminding me of the linguistic diversity of the country.
Indian fans were not the only ones to be disappointed, as my wife (back in JoBurg) found out that the Apartheid Museum was closed until Jan 3rd. Nonetheless, she enjoyed exploring Soweto, home of Nobel prize winners Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu, and immersing in stories about the “City of Gold” and South Africa under apartheid.
With the pitch appearing to have flattened out and the sun out, I was hoping for a solid Indian batting performance to take the game as deep as possible. Unfortunately for India, Kagiso Rabada had the ball on a string as he dismissed Rohit Sharma with a jaffa. After that, India just couldn’t string together a partnership and Shubman Gill’s dismissal was perhaps the most shocking. After cracking a few breathtaking boundaries, he missed one coming in with the angle from Jansen. The collapse on Day 3, when Jansen (with the bat) made it seem like the pitch had eased up will certainly disappoint the Indian batters.
Once Mohammed Shami had been ruled out, this was always going to be a very tough tour. India is a team in transition having moved on from Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and W Saha. Three batters in this XI were playing test cricket in South Africa for the first time, but no one expected the Indian team to fold this easily. The main issue for India at Newlands in the 2nd test will be the same as this test who can support the top 3 bowlers (Bumrah, Siraj and Ashwin/Jadeja)? The quality of fast bowlers past the top 3 isn’t as solid as it was 3-4 years back, and India’s results abroad are very likely to suffer.
Wrap-up
As I was walking out of the stadium, a happy Protea fan was heading out with his son. Seeing my India jersey, he said sorry for your loss and acknowledged that the Indian team has been a great test team irrespective of what happened today. Although the lack of a fightback in the 3rd innings was a bummer, friendly interactions like these along with the brilliance of KL Rahul, the magic of Rabada, the consistency of Bumrah, the sheer determination of Elgar and Kohli made the trip totally worth it.
With the match over in 3 days, I had an extra day to relax and explore JoBurg and I also had a chance to meet South Africa and Mumbai Indian physio Craig Govender, since we had interacted for TLW podcast. Not only did he share a bit about his role for MI as well as South Africa, he (like Habib) offered to provide any local suggestions if I needed any help with my travels. Next morning, we were off to Kruger National Park to spot the big 5 and I have no doubts I will miss rest stops like the one below.
Thanks for everything, South Africa!