Smith will rue all the missed chances

Little wonder that Pollock, in what could be his last appearance in India, bent over with hands on knees and looked a touch bemused and wondering at his captain. And from his own expression, Smith would have rather been visiting a dentist than meet the eye of his hard-working bowler.

From that point, Smith would have known that what slim chance there was of forcing a result favouring the Safs had slipped from the team’s grasp. Not at all the happy memento to live with for the rest of what is going to be a long, hot summer. As it was, the tourists were in trouble from the start of their innings. No side can expect to put such a miserable total on the board and then expect to defend it. They should have known that as well.

The question is whether Jacques Kallis didn’t dawdle too long as he anchored the innings. He is a class act and has been around long enough to know when to accelerate the run rate, but there were times when he did not challenge the stranglehold of Harbhajan Singh or Murali Kartik.

When Justin Kemp fell to a nifty ploy of trying to chip Bhajji onto the leg side with a glide-sweep that ended in Yavraj Singh’s safe hands, South Africa knew they were in trouble. Kemp is a big man with the ability to blaze away bazooka-style, but didn’t get the chance to use his talents and the tourists would have known that, at 178 for six at the end of the 45th over, they were in trouble.

A revision of this tour by both sides will show some interesting areas where games were won and lost. Irfan Pathan, seriously trouble under lights, always had an answer for Smith and other South African batsmen. The way he ripped open the top-order exposed the middle to his incisive swing and seam strategies.

Except for Eden Gardens, Smith in particular was unable to read him at all well.

As for Andre Nel, he has developed into an international bowler. It needs to be understood, though, that when the adrenalin is pumping he will come across with a series of bemused glares, grimaces and glances that are pretty mild compared to what Allan Donald offered.

Even Johan Botha has emerged from the tour (he also dropped Dravid) as a spinner who is growing. Why the South African selectors are reluctant to give him a chance in Australia is puzzling.

But India are going to remember this series as one where rain in Chennai may have saved them and made the team management realise that while Sri Lanka have a lot to learn, Team India need to seriously lift their performance levels.