NEW DELHI: The current Indian team has some remarkable firsts to its name in Test cricket. The two successive Test series victories in Australia (2018-19 and 2020-21) outshine all the others. The 3-0 clean sweep of Sri Lanka in 2017 was also a first, so was the clean sweep of West Indies in a Test series in the Caribbean in 2019. India have a 2-1 lead in a five-Test series against England. The last Test was not played due to COVID-19 outbreak in the Indian camp and is scheduled to be held in England in July 2022.
One country where the Indian team has not won a Test series ever though is South Africa. India’s last tour of the rainbow nation was in 2017-18, with the hosts winning the three-match series 2-1.
Overall, India and South Africa have played 39 Tests against each other, with India emerging victorious on 14 occasions but losing 15 Test encounters. 10 Tests ended in draws.
In South Africa, the Head to Head stats are tilted heavily in favour of the hosts, with the Proteas winning 10 of the 20 matches played on South African soil and India managing only 3 wins from 1992 to 2018.
Over the years these two teams have been involved in some great Test battles.
Here we look at five of the most memorable Test matches between India and South Africa played in the rainbow nation:
2006 – Johannesburg, 1st Test: India won by 123 runsThis was India’s first ever Test victory in South Africa and what was more remarkable was that it was fashioned by the pacers.
Rahul Dravid won the toss and even though history favoured the team batting second and there were damp spots on the pitch which meant a delayed start, the India captain chose to bat first, with three pacers in the playing XI.
Openers
Wasim Jaffer and
Virender Sehwag fell early but a 69-run stand between Sachin
Tendulkar (44) and Dravid (32) prevented a top order collapse. With the dismissals of Tendulkar and Dravid with just over 100 runs on the board, the scenario was set for another low Indian first innings score against a rampaging pace attack.
But former captain
Sourav Ganguly, making a comeback into the Indian team, brought all his grit and experience to the fore and held one end up with an unbeaten 51-run knock that was also the top score in the Indian first innings total that ended at 249, thanks largely to a record 44-run partnership between Ganguly and VRV Singh (29).
Indian players celebrate their first ever Test win in South Africa at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on December 18, 2006. (Photo by Duif du Toit/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
S Sreesanth then ran through the South African line-up taking 5/40 in 10 overs. Using the width of the crease, Sreesanth bowled with an upright seam to make the ball talk with supreme accuracy. Zaheer Khan and Anil Kumble took 2 wickets each and VRV Singh scalped one as South Africa were bundled out for just 84 runs in 25.1 overs.
VVS Laxman top scored for India with a resolute 73 after Sehwag’s typical 29-ball 33 at the top of the order in the Indian second innings. Ganguly’s 25 and Zaheer’s 37 took India to 236 to give the Proteas a 402-run target.
Ashwell Prince top scored with 97 in the Proteas second innings, but Zaheer, Sreesanth and Kumble took 3 wickets each to bowl out South Africa for 278, as India won the match by 123 runs to register their first ever Test victory on South African soil.
2010 – Durban, 2nd Test: India won by 87 runs
India had lost the first Test of this series by an innings and 25 runs in Centurion and when the teams reached Durban for the Boxing Day Test, one look at the green Kingsmead pitch and the writing seemed to be on the wall for Team India.
But the final result was something very different.
MS Dhoni lost the toss and Graeme Smith had no hesitation in asking India to bat. Dale Steyn took 6/50 as no Indian batsman reached 40 and the Indian first innings folded for 205 – a total India reached thanks largely to gritty knocks by Laxman (38) and Dhoni (35).
Zaheer then worked up his magic with the ball and picked up 3 wickets, including his perpetual bunny Smith. But it was Harbhajan Singh’s 4/10 that proved to be decisive as South Africa were bowled out for 131 runs in their first innings.
Indian players celebrate their win against South Africa at Kingsmead in Durban on December 29, 2010. (Photo by Duif Du Toit/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Laxman shone again in the second innings and fell just four runs short of what could have been his first century in South Africa. Apart from Laxman’s 96, notable contributions from Sehwag (32), Dhoni (21) and Zaheer (27), helped India get to 228 to set the hosts a 303-run target.
Zaheer and Sreesanth then took 3 wickets each and Harbhajan scalped 2 as South Africa managed to get to only 215 and India won by 87 runs.
This was India’s second Test victory in South Africa and it had an absolute peach of a delivery bowled by the mercurial Sreesanth to the Proteas batting mainstay Jacques Kallis in the second innings. The Sreesanth delivery rose from good length and came in sharply, catching Kallis by surprise as he jumped in the air to avoid the bouncer but the ball hit his glove and ballooned to gully for Sehwag to take the catch.
2018 – Johannesburg, 3rd Test: India won by 63 runs
South Africa already had an unassailable 2-0 series lead going into this Test. India lost openers KL Rahul (0) and Murali Vijay (8) quite early after opting to bat. But an 84-run stand between captain Virat Kohli (54) and Cheteshwar Pujara (50) saved India from total embarrassment. Bhuvneshwar Kumar hit 30 down the order as the India first innings folded up for 187, with Kagiso Rabada taking 3/39. Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Andile Phehlukwayo took 2 wickets each.
Jasprit Bumrah, playing only his third Test then stepped up to the plate, taking 5/54 and Bhuvneshwar scalped 3/44 to bundle out South Africa for 194, despite Hashim Amla’s 61.
Ajinkya Rahane top scored for India in the second innings with a 48-run knock, while captain Kohli contributed with 41. Bhuvneshwar again came up with a handy 33-run knock down the order to take India’s second innings total to 247 to set the home side a 241-run target.
Indian players celebrate their win against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on January 27, 2018. (Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Aiden Markram fell to Mohammed Shami in the second over, but a 119-run stand between Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla kept the home team afloat. But once Amla (52) fell with 124 runs on the board, the South African innings just fell apart. The Proteas lost their next eight wickets for just 53 runs on a fast deteriorating pitch, with Shami finishing with 5/28 and Bumrah and Ishant Sharma taking two scalps each.
Opener Elgar carried his bat through the innings with an unbeaten 86-run knock but South Africa were bowled out for 177 runs handing India a 63-run win for only their third Test victory on South African soil. This, till date remains their last Test win in South Africa.
1992 – Port Elizabeth, 3rd Test: South Africa won by 9 wickets
This was India’s first tour to South Africa and Allan Donald was at his ferocious best. India had managed to draw the previous two Tests at Durban and Johannesburg but before the third Test, there was a one-day series which India lost 2-5.
When South African captain Kepler Wessels asked India to bat first in good batting conditions, a few eyebrows were raised but Donald vindicated his captain’s decision by taking 5/55, ably supported by Brian McMillan’s 3/41 and India were bowled out for 212, with then captain Mohammad Azharuddin top scoring with a 60-run knock.
Hansie Cronje hit 135 in South Africa’s first innings total of 275 with Anil Kumble and Venkatapathy Raju taking three wickets each in marathon spells.
Kapil Dev. (Photo by David Munden/Popperfoto via Getty Images/Getty Images)
India were tottering at 27/5 in their second innings when Kapil Dev walked in to bat. And it soon became 31/6 as Ravi Shastri fell to McMillan. Then the onslaught began. In a superlative display of clean hitting that only he was capable of, Kapil began punishing all the South African bowlers dispatching them to all parts of the ground. Donald and Brett Schultz tried to bounce him out, but Kapil pulled them to the fine leg and the square leg fence nonchalantly. Craig Matthews pitched it up, Kapil hit him over and through the covers effortlessly. Kapil’s straight six off left-arm spinner Omar Henry was a sight to behold. The former captain’s clean hitting on both sides of the wicket was a treat to watch and he did all this while batting with an injured right hand in the twilight of his career.
Kapil reached his eighth and last Test century off 134 balls with the help of 11 fours and six. The next best score after Kapil’s 129 was 17, which was registered by Manoj Prabhakar. Kiran More and Anil Kumble also gave some support to Kapil’s magnificent knock. India were bowled out for 215 and South Africa chased down the small 153-run target with 9 wickets in hand.
Donald took 7 wickets in the India second innings in which none of the top six Indian batsmen reached double figures, South Africa completed their first Test win since they were readmitted to the ICC in four days, but it is Kapil’s magnificent counter-attack, albeit in a losing cause, that remains etched in the fans memories.
1997 – Cape Town, 2nd Test: South Africa won by 282 runs
If there are any batsmen who could match or sometimes even outshine Sachin Tendulkar in terms of dazzling strokeplay, they were the two batting wizards from Hyderabad – the ones with the magical wrists – Mohammad Azharuddin and VVS Laxman.
January 4, 1997 is one such date when Tendulkar and Azharuddin joined forces to dazzle the world. India had lost the first Test in Durban by 328 runs and were at the receiving end in the second at Newlands in Cape Town as the Proteas declared their first innings after piling up 529 runs on the board thanks to centuries by Gary Kirsten (103), Brian McMillan (103*) and Lance Klusener (102*).
India were in dire straits at 58/5 when Azharuddin walked in to join his captain Tendulkar at the crease and together they stitched a 222-run partnership off just 40 overs.
Relieved of captaincy, Azharuddin took the South African bowlers to the cleaners, whipping and flicking nonchalantly both good and bad deliveries to the boundary. Skipper Tendulkar was more orthodox, his drives down the ground coming off a straight bat that was just next to the pad, with a high elbow, but with such perfect timing that the ball raced to the fence.
South African President Nelson Mandela is introduced to Mohammad Azharuddin by Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar during the lunch break on the third day of the second Test at Newlands in Cape Town on January 4, 1997. (Photo by ADIL BRADLOW/AFP via Getty Images)
No South African bowler was spared, Klusener was hit for three successive fours by Azharuddin in an over, Donald’s deliveries were flicked to square leg, caressed through the covers and cut through point by Tendulkar, Shaun Pollock pitched it up and both Tendulkar and Azharuddin smashed him down the ground. Paul Adams bowled a wrong one and Azharuddin came down the track and smashed him straight over the top for a six. Both Tendulkar and Azharuddin hit on the up, drove down the ground and pulled magnificently in a full array of shots while toying with the bowling attack during the onslaught.
Tendulkar reached his fifty off 68 balls, Azharuddin raced to his fifty off 57 deliveries. Tendulkar reached his 11th Test hundred off 138 balls with a flick off Donald that raced to the mid-wicket fence. Azharuddin raced to his 16th Test century off 96 deliveries soon after with a tap to the covers for a quick single off Donald. The Newlands crowd gave a standing ovation to the batting maestros as they had been treated to a glorious batting display.
The stand was broken in the only way that looked possible that day, Azharuddin tapped a Paul Adams delivery to backward point and ran for a quick single only to be turned back by Tendulkar. But Azharuddin could not beat the throw from Andrew Hudson into the hands of wicket-keeper David Richardson who removed the bails in a flash.
Azharuddin fell after scoring 115 off 110 balls with the help of 19 fours and a six, with India still needing 50 runs to avoid the follow-on.
Tendulkar went on to score 169 – a knock studded with 26 fours and his was the last wicket to fall. Though India avoided the follow-on, they went on to lose the match by 282 runs. But that stirring batting display by both Tendulkar and Azharuddin on the third day of the Test was a sight for the gods.
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