GUWAHATI: These are supposed to be heady days for South African men's cricket. They are the world Test champions. Under an inspirational leader, they have gelled as a unit. After multiple attempts, they finally have a thriving T20 franchise league. Now, they are potentially five days away from completing a series win in India, an achievement only one visiting team has achieved in this country in the last 12 years (New Zealand last year).
But therein lies a dichotomy. For all their excellence, the Proteas have not been playing three-Test series. Once a staple, teams like South Africa no longer play a long long-format series. In fact, the last time they played a three-match Test series came in Australia in the 2022-23 season. Since then, in 10 back-to-back series (including the current one), they have never played longer than two matches.
Skipper Temnba Bavuma spoke about his frustrations on the subject. "Players are well involved when it comes to mapping our schedule," he said when asked about it in the pre-Test press conference. "I think every player that has had the opportunity to interact with the media, having that question in front of them, have voiced their frustration."
With more money in white-ball cricket, teams generally play a lot of bilateral ODIs or T20Is rather than put on one more Test match. That being the case, there is no sense of a fitting denouement or closure for most of the series South Africa play. A decider away to Pakistan would have been an apt closure but the series only had two games.
"Look, either way, the series goes 1-1, 2-0. You know, it would be nice for a three-four match series against a formidable team like India," he added. "I think it's just good for the fans, really, when people get to see good cricket, one team dominating, another team dominating, but there is also being an opportunity for one team to come out as victors. So, look, I mean, like I want to say, as players, all we can do is just what we've been trying to do out on the field, keep playing good cricket. I think that will attract the top nations and the nations to play a lot more cricket."
Some teams still do play three match series but a five-match series has become the domain of the Big Three. The 35-year-old said he was 'jealous' when he turned to watch the start of the Ashes on Friday morning. "We woke up this morning to watch the Ashes, and we watched with a bit of jealousy, knowing that the five Tests, they'll be going at each other. So, yeah, hopefully, not too far in the future, but more in the near future, we'll go back to playing four tests against India, whether here in India or back home in South Africa."
Post the India series, the Test team would have normally had a home season to look forward to. But there will be no home Tests this year as all venues are receiving an upgrade because of the World Cup in 2027. They are scheduled to play three Tests in a series against both Australia and England next year but it remains an exception. Bavuma and his colleagues want it to become the norm.