India vs South Africa: It’s the round 12 of October slugfest

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In many ways, the series so far has been the equivalent of an ‘Iron Man Match’ in professional wrestling. It’s a contest that lasts for 60 minutes and is considered the only way to once and for all decide the ultimate champion between two evenly-matched competitors. The winner is decided on the basis of who scores most pinfalls or submissions during that hour.

Even though the series scoreline between India and South Africa might read 2-2 at the moment, there have been so many three-counts and submissions already by both teams that you can imagine the poor referee struggling to keep count.

A high-quality contest

We’ve reached the last quarter of the cricketing Iron Man Match though, and it culminates at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday, where there will be a winner at the end who will walk away with all the bragging rights, leaving the vanquished flat on his back. Or, of course, there’s that tantalizing prospect of the match ending in a tie, leaving the series dead-locked in what many romantics might still consider a fair result.

Of late, bilateral ODI series have often fought for relevance. But the Indians and the Proteas might just have brought them back in vogue, such has been the excitement they have generated since commencing their journey with a narrow-margin result in Kanpur two Sundays ago. For good measure, both outfits have had to endure their fair share of injuries, cramps and heartbreaks.

While both sides have seen a number of their players rise up to the challenge and dish out ravishing fares with bat and ball, they have also had to contend with some of their stars not quite coming to the party. With Shikhar Dhawan and Hashim Amla going through an unprecedented lull, both teams have struggled to get going at the start.
No wonder then that the two spent most time in the nets on Saturday during their team’s respective practice sessions, with Amla indulging in two stints on either side of his interaction with the media.

Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock, who have scored a century each, have made up for their partners’ repeated failures. Left-handers Suresh Raina and David Miller have seen their major weaknesses being exposed — fast-men bowling short and spinners turning the ball, respectively — but have shown why they still deserve their places with useful contributions in one match each. Swing bowlers Chris Morris and Bhuvneshwar Kumar have both pitched the ball up in the quest for swing but haven’t found much, and have come under fire from the batsmen.

Another entity, who seemed to have been handed a VRS when ODIs were governed by the previous field restrictions, though has made a significant return during the series. And ‘deep-midwicket’ has had a major say in how this series has gone so far. He’s ensured that the last 10 overs are no longer a license for batsmen to clear their front-leg and swing for the fences. His return has forced batting teams to strategise a lot more, and as of now we’re yet to see a team come up with a winning formula as far as chasing is concerned. It’s added more intrigue to the contest. Kohli, who saw his 77 go in vain at Rajkot, agrees.

“It’s very difficult to leave a 15 or 20, ball-run gap in the end. You need to keep it (the required rate) to around 5 and a half, 6 runs an over in the last 10. In this new scenario, overs 20 to 40 has become very crucial, it has become the new 40 to 50, so to say,” he said.

But the new rules have had little effect on AB de Villiers, who anyway doesn’t seem to be governed by the physics of cricket, and the South African batting genius has scored at a strike-rate of 215.38 in the last 10 overs this series — 84 runs off 39 balls to be precise. But matching him is Kohli, who has stormed back in form, especially so with the match-winning 138 in the sapping heat of Chennai. Not surprising then that Kohli revealed that there was one factor he thinks could be the difference-maker in Mumbai, insisting that the mercury-levels weren’t just rising metaphorically in terms of the ODI series.

“As far as I’m concerned it’s (the clincher) going to be the heat. Because, we’ve played in Rajkot, we’ve played in Chennai and now we’ve come to Mumbai — It’s not getting any better,” he said with a sheepish smile.

Appetiser for Test series

The fight for supremacy between the two countries doesn’t end here, though. The two teams will doff the coloured-clothing and don the whites for the highly-billed four-match Test series next month. Even though Kohli might not want to admit it, the winner on Sunday will take a lot of momentum into the final segment of the tour.

Whichever way it goes, and whoever scores that three-count or makes the opponent submit one final time, both teams will look forward to taking their feet off the pedal and putting them up indulgently. If the Indians will be washing off their fatigue in the comfort of their homes, the South Africans will be doing so on the beaches of Goa. Feet up on a cushion , or sunk in the sands after a dip in pool seem to be a just way to finish up after this gruelling slug fest in the October heat.

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