If the Visakhapatnam Test was about two batsmen and bowlers apiece for India, South Africa are looking for positives from the first of a three-match series they lost by 203 runs.Virat Kohli and Ravi Shastri can walk with their chins high till they go to New Zealand next year for five T20Is, three ODIs and two Tests which will be part of the World Championship.
Like all good victorious captains, Kohli was all praise for his top-order batsmen and key bowlers. If he had to borrow words from one of his predecessors, the boys batted well, bowled well and fielded well. The only thing he did not say, like he used to before the World Cup, was that all slots have been filled for the New Zealand tour. Or, say that the team is concentrating more on the shortest format preparing for the World Cup next year.
Kohli and Shastri have been getting lyrical about Rohit Sharma’s batting as opener. A couple of months ago, Kohli insisted that KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal were picked as openers and would play Tests, leaving Rohit to cool his heels when everyone felt he was too good to be warming the bench.
When Rohit was picked as opener, people said he would be the new Virender Sehwag without realising whether he has a captain like Sourav Ganguly who gave the Delhi dasher freedom to play the way he did in domestic cricket. Will Rohit get the backing of the selectors and team management like Sehwag?
Rohit did not bat like Sehwag, though he may have hit a record number of sixes in the first Test. He played with caution till he got the measure of the pitch and bowling. He paced his innings the way he does in shorter formats. Mayank did what he should while batting with someone like Rohit. He became the 86th Indian to get a Test hundred and made his first one a double. With a couple of openers scoring heavily in domestic cricket, there is pressure on both, although no imminent danger.
Rohit knows he had fluffed his chances in the middle-order, but it cannot be said of Ravichandran Ashwin, who had been treated shabbily by the team management. The spinner did everything asked of him. He bowled his heart out, got runs with the lower-order. He should have been the first name on the team list, but did not know whether he was playing.
Not that there had not been a dip in Ashwin’s wicket-taking consistency, but it’s like asking Kohli to take rest if he does not get runs in a series. Happily for him and the team, Ashwin is back with all his guile. On Indian pitches he is providing breakthroughs with the new ball!
The other bowler proving to be a match-winner is Mohammed Shami. When everyone thought he would break down with problems on the personal front and also fitness,he showed what a true professional can do once he gets on to the field.
In the last two years, Jasprit Bumrah may have got wickets at critical junctures, but Shami made sure the innings did not prolong beyond a point. He bowled with fire to dismantle South Africa’s middle and lower-order. He does not seem to mind that he is no longer the spearhead and gets to bowl with the second new ball.
Shami is only the sixth pacer in 45 years to take a fifer in the second inning of a Test in India, after Karsan Ghavri, Madan Lal, Javagal Srinath, Vanburn Holder and Lance Klusener. That’s some feat, four of his five wickets being clean bowled.
The visitors have a bigger problem as they are in the process of rebuilding. Call him an interim team director or coach, Enoch Nkwe at 36 is full of ideas and believes in the philosophy of Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola to make South Africa a force. Nkwe wants to make a difference, although he has been appointed only for this tour. He and his team have a big job on hand.
(The writer is a veteran commentator. Views expressed are personal. He can be reached at sveturi@gmail.com)