How India lost the key moments at Centurion on their way to a chastening series defeat

Fine margins.

We often hear captains and coaches refer to this mystical, often immeasurable entity called fine margins, when they speak about a defeat. India’s defeat at Centurion in the second Test at the hands of a Lungi Ngidi-inspired pace attack was a 135-run defeat. At first glance, there is nothing fine about that margin. It’s a chasm. And nothing less than what India’s batting performance warranted.

But, as we sit here trying to digest the fact that this Indian team turned out to be not much different from its predecessors when it comes to results, looking back at the events of the past five days will tell you that the defeat was not just about the captiulation with the bat in the fourth innings. It was a culmination of little moments that a team of India’s pedigree should have been winning. It’s the fine margins, in a couple of cases as minute as a few millimetres, that hurt India.

Dropped catches

All said and done, India had no business ending day one as the better-placed team. Virat Kohli had lost the toss, he had dropped his best bowler from Newlands, South Africa had a 85-run opening partnership on a lifeless pitch. But thanks to 11 minutes of madness from South Africa, they finished the day on top.

Now, how do you capitalise on such a position? By making sure you don’t let the opposition of the hook when you come back to play. But Kohli dropped a catch at first slip, Pandya and Shami conspired together to drop a sitter a point, Parthiv Patel put down Faf du Plessis (to add to his dropped catch of Hashim Amla from day one) - and just like that, South Africa ended up adding 84 runs for the last four wickets.

Pujara run out, take one

“I know every batsman wants to get off the mark,” said Sunil Gavaskar on air when Cheteshwar Pujara stunned everyone by committing harakiri in the first innings. True as it may be, Pujara is never one in a hurry. His first motive is not score runs, it is to get in. It is to get set. And, inexplicably, on a pitch that is usually his bread and butter, he got himself run out off the very first ball.

Pictures often tell a better story than words, and the sight of Pujara lying on the pitch, with his face down, not looking up for a good few seconds, knowing he fell comfortably short, spoke volumes. This was a moment that even he wouldn’t be able to explain, years down the line, when he looks back at this Test match.

(And sadly, there would be more than one such occasion in this match - more on that later...)

Pandya brain-fade

You are batting with the captain at the other end in sublime form. The pitch is much less treacherous than the one you faced at Newlands, where you smashed around the South African bowlers in style. You are in a position to drive home the advantage and possibly bat South Africa into a corner in a must-win match. You are billed as India’s next big hope, the X-factor.

And then you do this.

Inexcusable, Hardik.

Single error

In the long list of things that went wrong for India, this can get missed out. But rewind to the 82nd over of India’s first innings. Kohli is running out of partners, as R Ashwin becomes the seventh wicket to fall, chasing an outswinger in the first over after the new ball is taken. Now, this South African attack is evidently a potent force with a brand new cherry. Out walks Mohammed Shami, and he is beaten all ends up off the very first ball he faces. That should have been a sign to Kohli, to start farming the strike. Instead, he doesn’t deny Shami a single off the last ball and allows him to retain strike.

The next over? He’s dismissed by Morne Morkel.

Kohli started farming the strike with Ishant Sharma then, adding a few more runs to the total. But imagine if he did the same a little while back, at least till Shami got his eye in.

India fell short by 28 runs in the first innings - that could have been a lead, instead.

Drama under floodlights

In a match where temperatures remained in the high 30s almost throughout, there was an unexpected rain break on day two. There was storm coming, in more ways than one. The first one from the skies, the next in the form of Kohli losing the plot on the field with the umpires. When play resumed after the brief break, Kohli was visibly displeased with the outfield being still moist, and the dryness in the ball that made it reverse was taken away. But he made it known to the umpires, and how.

Yet, with fading light, the ball still moving around, and the batsmen back from a momentum-halting break - scenarios that usually help the fielding side - India made it look as if they were rattled.

And in that phase, came a classic throwback to the 90s. Jasprit Bumrah bowled a ripper from around the wicket to Dean Elgar, the ball bounced awkwardly, and Elgar could only fend it in the general direction of the first slip. Or, where the first slip should have been. In the end, Parthiv and Pujara were left staring at each other.

Parthiv reminded us all that he is from a different era with the famous ‘point-the-hand-at-the-next-fielder’ routine of the past. While it was the (non-existent) first slip’s catch, Parthiv knew India had opted for a staggered slip cordon. And the ball was going to his natural left side. It was, without a doubt, the keeper’s catch.

The result? India lost that mini session of play instead of wrestling back the momentum and Elgar stitched together the defining partnership of the match with de Villiers.

Shami underused

Mohammed Shami had a bizarre Test match. He was comfortably the worst bowler for India on day one, and then he improved on day two. He was once again below par on day three, and then, out of nowhere, came into the attack on day four morning and took three South African wickets in one spell of seven overs that started with him conceding 9 runs. One of those wickets was AB de Villiers on 80. The other was a well-set Elgar.

You’d think the focus on the second session would have been to try and bowl out South Africa quickly? Instead, Ishant Sharma and Hardik Pandya bowled long spells - tight spells, mind you - but a South African wicket never felt imminent.

Number of overs Shami bowled in that session? One. (The very last, before tea)

Pujara run out, take two

“Bat for sessions. Play till lunch, take a break. The come out and play till tea. The play as long as it takes to close out the matc,” said Sunil Gavaskar on how India should handle chasing 252 on the final day with seven wickets remaining.

And Pujara was the perfect man for the job. Batting time is what he does best. He had to hold fort. He had to dig in.

What did he do? Go for a third run, chancing AB de Villiers’ arm of all people, and fell, literally, a few millimeters short. ‘He’s a slow coach... he’s ultra-slow’ winced Michael Holding on air, wondering why on earth would he risk a run there, as early as the third over of the day.

Truth is, had it been any other batsman, it was three runs, guaranteed. But Pujara should know he is not any other batsman when it comes to running between the wickets. Pujara should know that from the first innings. The fact that it took so many replays to verify if the bails had come off before he reached, and the fact that it was a freak like ABD who threw a tracer bullet, should not take away from the fact that Pujara fell short - literally and metaphorically.

Rohit Sharma

First things first, by the time Rohit Sharma walked back to the pavilion, the match was pretty much lost. As gritty as the partnership with Shami was, expecting them to take India past the finish line was hopeful, at best and futile, at worst.

But, having said that, here’s a batsman who knows that if he plays out just one more over, the team can head back to the pavilion for lunch, enjoy a forty-minute break, regroup, recalibrate, and take guard once again. Instead, he walks right into the trap set by Kagiso Rabada, who had been bowling short at him around the wicket, by going for the ambitious pull shot with de Villiers stationed at fine leg. ‘Pick your opponents wisely,’ is an adage that was clearly lost on Rohit.

In the end, as one reader commented on ESPNCricinfo - with a hint of pardonable exaggeration - the distance between Pandya’s foot and the ground and Parthiv’s gloves and the ball, are the kind of margins that Test matches are won and lost.

And that will hurt Kohli the most.