Bigger than ever

Ask followers of cricket to list great rivalries and they’re likely to either start with India vs Pakistan or Australia vs England depending on which part of the world they’re from (if they’re from Australia,they’re unlikely to consider the second one as a rivalry at all). England vs West Indies might figure somewhere down the charts,while there might be a few who vote for the trans-Tasman battle between Australia and New Zealand.

In the last decade,India vs Australia has grown exponentially: it bullied its way into international cricket’s collective consciousness when VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid spent a day in Kolkata turning defiance into counter-attack; it grew into something more serious when Sourav Ganguly scored the unlikeliest of his 16 centuries,where each cut,pull and drive brought with it a weird mix of disbelief and self-belief; India drew a series Down Under,Steve Waugh’s final frontier was won by Adam Gilchrist and by the time Anil Kumble uttered the words “only one team played in the right spirit” in Sydney two years ago,the fire was set in stone.

Former South African captain Kepler Wessels — on the new selection committee and the batting coach of the team — says he won’t be surprised if something similar develops between South Africa and India over the next few years,starting with this series. “In the past,it’s not got the kind of hype that surrounds some of the more traditional cricketing contests,but I have a feeling this time will be different,” he says. “This series should get a pretty high billing,there is a lot more at stake now. The motivation to beat India is always high,and this time,because it’s a contest between the two top-ranked teams,I think the motivation is going to be even higher.”

India are No 1 in the International Cricket Council’s Test rankings with 125 rating points,and South Africa are second with 120. If India win the series,they consolidate their position. If South Africa triumph 2-0 they hop on to the top step (and if the ICC have their way with these numbers that no one really understands,the two would be switching places at the end of each day’s play).

Are the rankings as they stand the reason for the spurt in interest,or just the final stir to a silent tussle that’s been brewing for close to two decades?

BACK WITH A BANG

Unfortunately,the defining moment of any India-South Africa reflections is the match-fixing scandal,or the Mike Denness controversy,but the cricket has been good as well. The overall numbers are stacked in South Africa’s favour,with the Proteas winning 10 to India’s five in the 22 Tests the two sides have played.

When South Africa travelled to India in 1991 for three one-dayers,no one quite knew what to expect of them. They had been frozen out of international sport for over two decades due to the apartheid regime,but their domestic cricket was thriving.

They arrived with a battery of fast bowlers and all-rounders that took India by some surprise. For Wessels,this was a far more enriching experience than his first trip to India — which was with the Australian team in 1984. “Coming back to India with the South African team was an awesome experience. It was our first time back and the atmosphere at the grounds was pretty spectacular. We lost the series 2-1,but I have some pretty happy memories from that trip. Plus,we could take a lot of positives out of it,it gave us confirmation that we belonged,” he says.

Within 12 months,India were invited over for a four-Test series that Mohammad Azharuddin’s team — notoriously poor travellers — lost 1-0.

Praveen Amre,who scored a century on debut in the drawn Durban Test on that tour,says what South Africa did,and still do,really well was keep the pressure on. “They always had four or five solid pacemen in their line-up and their fielding was top-notch. New batsmen were welcomed with bouncers,which we found hard to tackle then. They had (Alan) Donald,Brett Schultz,(Brian) McMillan and Meyrick Pringle,all quality bowlers who never gave any loose deliveries. I remember Sachin and I were batting in second Test and we didn’t score a single run in 15 overs.”

BETTER THAN EXPECTED

While there has been some surprise over India’s performance in South Africa over the years that followed — they have lost six and won just one match — the Proteas have done much better on the turning tracks of the sub-continent than many would’ve expected.

A comparison with Australia’s performances in India over the last decade-and-a-half are revealing: The Aussies have lost eight out of 15 Tests here,winning just four. During that period,they lost four series and won one. South Africa,on the other hand,have won four and lost four in 10,winning one series and drawing one in the process.

“We’ve always had a pretty strong team,even when we started off. We’ve had great fast bowlers and a pretty good combination,so the team was always going to be competitive anywhere they went,” Wessels says.

Former India batsman Anshuman Gaekwad,who watched the South Africans from close quarters through the 90s as manager of the Indian team,puts their success in the sub-continent down to their attitude. “They’re extremely fit guys,and fiercely competitive,they always fought right till the end and that meant you just couldn’t take them for granted,irrespective of the situation of the match.”

While the Australians or the English didn’t really enjoy travelling to India,he says,the South Africans were more sporting. “They accepted things as they came,they knew what to expect and made the most of it. The focus was always on winning,without cribbing.”

CHANGING STYLES

That gap has reduced of late,quite dramatically. South Africa have added a bit of oomph to their machine-like ruthlessness,India have added steel to the flair they always possessed. India looked set to win the series away in 2007 but let a 1-0 lead slip,while South Africa almost won in India before crumbling on a Kanpur pitch that fell apart from Day One. India drew a series in Australia,South Africa won a series in Australia. Over two years,they have thrown punches at different opponents with bar-room debates settled solely upon the subjective measure of who knocked which team down harder.

Most people outside India don’t really believe India are the No.1 Test team in the world,and even those who do,do so grudgingly. If they can win here,especially with a depleted middle-order,they’ll have the numbers and the bragging rights.

“It’s going to be very interesting,” Gaekwad says,“especially without Rahul (Dravid) and Yuvraj (Singh). The other experienced batsmen will have to put in that extra effort if India are to win.”

South Africa arrive with problems of their own: They recently drew a series against England at home,which was followed by the unexpected resignation of long-time coach Mickey Arthur and the sudden sacking of the entire selection committee,but Wessels insists these issues are unlikely to affect the team’s performance. “We’ve got a very experienced bunch of cricketers and once they walk on to the cricket field,everything else will be left behind.”

There’s added edge as well,provided by the Indian support staff’s decidedly South African flavour,with coach Gary Kirsten,mental conditioning coach Paddy Upton and new short-term bowling consultant Eric Simons all plotting SA’s downfall.

Wessels chuckles,saying it’s a two-way street. “Gary knows our team well,it’s true,but we know him too and can predict what it is that he will be working on. These days with the technology available it may not make too much of a difference,but it will definitely add spice to the series.”

The build-up may have been slow — which is understandable when you think these two Test matches were squeezed into the itinerary at the last minute after Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s public appeal for more Test cricket — almost like a filler before the IPL drama. But with both sides ready for the skirmish,two Tests could seem too few once they’re over.

Fact file: South Africa 5,India 2

1992-93:South Africa 1,India 0
Playing Test cricket after a 22-year hiatus,South Africa lose their one-off Test against the West Indies but by the end of the year,have India over for their first full-fledged home series. Wessels scores his first century for the Proteas in Durban and Pravin Amre enters the record books for India with a century on debut. At 19 years and 217 days,Sachin Tendulkar becomes the youngest player in Test history to score 1000 runs during his knock of 111 in Johannesburg. South Africa emerge victorious in Port Elizabeth,and the world gets its first glimpse of Allan Donald’s ability during his match haul of 12 wickets. His figures of 5/55 and 7/84 destroy India to 212 and 215 all out,and the hosts gallop to a nine-wicket win,before the final Test ends in a draw as well.

1996: India 2,South Africa 1
A month after winning the Titan Cup against South Africa,India’s confidence is sky high after winning the first Test against the Proteas in Ahmedabad. Javagal Srinath rips through Hansie Cronje’s batting order in the second innings,claiming figures of 6/21 in 11.5 overs. India,however,are unable to carry over their good run to Kolkata,with debutant Lance Klusener devastating the hosts with career-best figures of 8/64 to lead his team to a massive 329-run victory. All square at 1-1,Man of the Match Mohammad Azharuddin dazzles the Green Park crowd with an unbeaten 163 in a 280-run win.

1996-97: South Africa 2,India 0
Donald is once again the primary architect of South Africa’s victory in the first Test at Durban on Boxing Day. His 5/40 skittles India out for 100 in the first innings,while his 4/14 in 11.2 overs in the second sees India crumbling to 66 all out. Incidentally,Venkatesh Prasad claims his first 10-wicket match haul. India lose the second Test and the series in Cape Town by 282 runs,despite a 222-run stand between Tendulkar (169) and Azhar (115) in the first innings. Rahul Dravid scores 148 — his maiden Test century — in the inconsequential final match in Johannesburg.

2000: India 0,South Africa 2
In the summer of 2000,Wasim Jaffer and Murali Kartik make their debuts as India lose the first Test at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai by four wickets. Mohammad Kaif and Nikhil Chopra win their first Test caps in Bangalore as India lose the second and the series by an innings and 71 runs. Playing in his first series,Nicky Boje is the Man of the Match,while Jacques Kallis is adjudged the Man of the Series with five wickets and 136 runs in the two matches.

2001: South Africa 1,India 0
Virender Sehwag is all set to become a household name after his 105 on debut in Bloemfontein. Tendulkar (155) and Sehwag put on 220 runs for the fourth wicket in the first innings but fail to do anything special in the second. Centuries by Herschelle Gibbs and Lance Klusener lead the home side to a nine-wicket victory. The series,though,will always be remembered for the penalties dished out by match referee Mike Denness to six Indian players for excessive appealing at Port Elizabeth. Tendulkar is pulled up for ball tampering,effigies of Denness are burnt in India,Gibbs scores 196,and the match ends in an exciting draw. The third Test in Centurion is rendered unofficial,which South Africa win by an innings and 73 runs.

2004: India 1,South Africa 0
Andrew Hall scores a career-best 163 as opener in the first Test in Kanpur while Virender Sehwag scores a run more than Hall in India’s first innings. Considered one of the most boring draws in recent history,the match barely makes it to the third innings. Harbhajan Singh deflates the visitors with 7/87 in the second innings at the Eden Gardens as India win a Test match against South Africa after nine matches — and the series 1-0.

2006-07: South Africa 2,India 1
Sourav Ganguly makes a dramatic return to the Indian side under captain Rahul Dravid and coach Greg Chappell. He top scores for India in the first innings of the first Test in Johannesburg with an unbeaten 51,while a rampaging S Sreesanth (5/40) cleans the hosts up for 86. Sreesanth adds three more wickets in the second innings to finish with a match tally of eight as India cruise to a 123-run victory — their first in South Africa. The Kerala speedster claims eight more wickets in the second Test in Durban,but the effort is in vain as Man of the Match Makhaya Ntini leads the Proteas to a 174-run win. A classy 116 at the top of the order by Jaffer is not enough,as a young Dale Steyn rips through the Indian line-up in the second innings,setting up a five-wicket win.

2008: India 1,South Africa 1
With 319 in the first Test in Chennai,Sehwag becomes only the third batsman in Test history to score two triple centuries after Don Bradman and Brian Lara. 1498 runs are scored on a placid Chepauk wicket,and the match,predictably,ends in a draw. After the run-fest in the first,India are bowled out for 76 in the first innings in Ahmedabad,with Dale Steyn taking 5/23 in eight overs. India go down by an innings and 90 runs and,with Anil Kumble injured for the final Test in Kanpur,wicketkeeper MS Dhoni takes over the reins for the first time in a temporary role,leading India to a eight wicket victory — also marred by controversy due to poor pitch quality.

—Aditya Iyer

Curated For You

Jana Nayagan Movie Audio Launch Live Updates: Vijay arrives to thunderous cheers and fireworks; Pooja Hegde stuns in saree

Dhurandhar Box Office Worldwide Collection Day 22 Update: Ranveer Singh’s film surpasses Kartik’s TMMTMTTM; Salman Khan avoids Eid clash with Dhurandhar 2

Humanoid robot dances to ‘Fa9la’ at IIT Bombay Techfest 2025; netizens name it ‘Chitti Dakait’