CHENNAI: There is a reason why South Africa feel at home in Perth. The conditions are very similar to what they get in their backyard. Their skipper Temba Bavuma said so on Sunday. Perth is where teams face the chin music. Historically, it has been the fastest pitch in the world and still remains among the top venues in that category. It is where West Indies' Curtly Ambrose took 7/1 in a spell. It is where Mitchell Johnson disintegrated England's batting line-up in 2013. It is also where Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel rattled the Aussies every time they played.
Whether it is the old WACA ground or the current Perth stadium, the Proteas are the only visiting side to have thrived consistently. Their win-loss ratio of 6.5 across formats in Perth is testament to that. To put into context, the next in the list is the West Indies with a 1.36 W/L ratio.
Which is why, with a pace attack featuring Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and Anrich Nortje, it was going to be the biggest challenge for India. They knew what to expect. After all, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul are not affected by high-end pace or bounce. They are probably some of the best in the world at handling them. Which is why, despite the plausible issues in their approach, India backed the top three to come good in Australia.
However, not everything goes by the script in sport. If Wayne Parnell started off with a maiden against a low-on-confidence Rahul, Rabada did not take long to push the Indian skipper on the backfoot with an array of bouncers. Rohit being Rohit, hooked the pacer for a six. Rahul followed his footsteps, hitting Parnell over the cow corner for a maximum. It seemed like India were going to thrive against pace. But Ngidi had other ideas.
While Ngidi might not be the quickest but his high release point is what makes the difference. The new ball moving around with a steep climb from good length meant, Rohit miscued a pull and Ngidi completed the rest. Three balls later, a good length delivery rose high on Rahul and before anyone knew, he was back in the pavilion. In came, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav.
Kohli has had happy memories at the venue. His 2018 hundred here is arguably his best in the longest format. And the former skipper showed why he is a class apart as he stayed on top of the bounce to hit some elegant boundaries. But even he did not last long. A sharp incoming bouncer from Ngidi took the top edge of his bat and landed into the hands of Rabada. Three of India's best batters against pace were in the hut. Ngidi would go on to get rid of Hardik Pandya as well, finishing with 4/29 in his four overs.
However, as has been the case through 2022, Suryakumar came to India's rescue. He hung in there before taking apart the Proteas bowling attack. After all, the pitch always gets better at Perth after the first half of an innings. According to CricViz, there is a difference of 1.5 in run rate in Perth since 2018 in the second ten overs compared to the first ten. As the Indian batting fell apart around him — Dinesh Karthik 6 (15), Hardik Pandya 2 (3), Deepak Hooda 0 (3) — Suryakumar smashed a 40-ball 68, helping India get to a competitive total.
Although Arshdeep Singh gave the Proteas a taste of their own medicine in reply, reducing them to 24/3, it wasn't enough. Markram and David Miller had seen what worked for India. They knew the target of 134 was never going to be out of reach. They survived Bhuvneshwar, Mohammed Shami and Hardik before going after R Ashwin. South Africa scored 97/2 in the last 10 overs as Miller took them home in the final over.
Just like the Protea flowers, which are known to adapt and grow back stronger after a wildfire, the South African team thrived on the testing conditions of Perth, survived the heat of Indian pacers and came down cracking on them in the end. After all, it is where they feel at home.
Brief scores: India 133/9 in 20 ovs (Suryakumar 68; Ngidi 4/29) lost to South Africa 137/5 in 19.4 ovs (Miller 59, Markram 52).