Centurion Test: India’s woeful batting failures explained in three charts

After a short final day at Centurion, the sun set on India’s hopes of winning a Test series in South Africa after the tourists were whittled out for 151.

With it, came Virat Kohli’s first series loss as a skipper. It wasn’t a big surprise. Outside the subcontinent, the Indian Test team can’t really win.

Excluding their tours to the West Indies, India has won only one Test match outside the subcontinent since January 2011. The last Indian skipper to win a series in England/Australia/South Africa was Rahul Dravid against England in 2007.

At both Newlands and Supersport Park, India’s top order failed miserably. Except for an exceptional 153 by Kohli, no batsmen showed up for this series.

In the four innings Indian batsmen have played so far, only on six occasions have they gone past 30 runs in an innings. Ashwin, who bats at number 8 batsmen, was the only player to score more than 30 twice.

His scores are emblematic of a tail saving the top-order from embarrassment. Three of the top five batsmen in the series batted at six or lower.

But, in reality/Indian conditions, these top-order batsmen are exceptional batsmen in their own right. All of them except Rohit Sharma have averaged above 40 over the last four years. Though South African conditions are unfamiliar, but failing to get 20 runs in an innings is inexcusable for a batting line-up like this.

With the exception of Kohli, all averaged less than 20. Ajinkya Rahane, averages nearly 55 outside the subcontinent, the best among the current crop of player was the only regular top-order batsmen who hasn’t played in this South Africa series yet.

But it wasn’t just the lack of runs from the top-order that let the team down. At Centurion, Indian batsmen failed to build any partnerships. South Africa were similar in this regard, however, they benefited from Dean Elgar and Ab de Villier’s match winning 141-run partnership.

India really needed one stable partnership that could’ve seen them through. They lost wickets cheaply and at regular intervals.

In the fourth innings, almost all batsmen didn’t put up much of a fight. Coupled with some sensational fielding from South Africa, India didn’t really have a chance to reach their target.

If India’s batting unit had a gameplan, it certainly didn’t show on the field. Their short selection was bad and they clearly lacked the mental strength needed to win Test matches against the best teams.