India v South Africa: Series win shows Kohli and Co are ready to move beyond rank turners

Another homes series, another victory for the Indian cricket team. Virat Kohli and his men defeated South Africa comprehensively in Pune to win the three-match series on Sunday. It was India’s 11th consecutive Test series triumph at home, an all-time record in the longest format of the game.

India’s incredible run in Test series at home started back in the 2012-13 season, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni led the team to a 4-0 victory against Australia. Since then, India have defeated every Test-playing nation at home barring Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Ireland.

There’s one particular thing that stands out in Team India’s latest achievement, though, and that is the nature of the pitches on which the two matches against South Africa have been won.

In South Africa’s second innings on Sunday, Senuram Muthusamy was caught at second slip by Rohit Sharma after failing to defend a searing bouncer by Mohammed Shami. It was day four of the match, the ball was 45 overs old and yet, the catch was taken around chest height. This isn’t a common sight in India, not by any stretch.

The Pune pitch was, in fact, under intense scrutiny even before the first ball of the match was bowled. The last time India played a Test match here, which was in 2017 against Australia, they suffered a heavy defeat. The pitch was criticised severely at that time as the hosts got bowled out for 105 and 107. Of the 40 wickets that fell in that match, only nine were taken by fast bowlers.

In the ongoing series, spinners have taken 24 wickets while pacers have gotten 16. In the ten home Test series prior to this one, spinners bagged 456 wickets while fast bowlers got 173.

Such was the quality of the pitch at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium this time around that it reminded former South African skipper Shaun Pollock of the ones he’s used to seeing back home. Not just in Pune, the surface in the first Test in Visakhapatnam was impressive as well, with Shami getting a five-for in the final innings of the match.

It may be too early to tell, but this change in the nature of pitches in India could be deliberate. And if that is the case, Indian cricket is setting itself up to take things to the next level. Far too often in the past, there have been suspicions of Indian captains asking curators to prepare dust bowls for ‘home advantage’. That isn’t the case with the current team, though.

The right pace

Kohli has, at his disposal, a pace attack that can get wickets in any given situation. The likes of Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav and Shami can come in and deliver hostile spells irrespective of the conditions. This means the opposition is never given any breathing room. As a visiting batsman, you could buckle down and play out Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, but just when you think there’ll be respite for a while when the spinners are taken off, the fast bowlers are at your throat. The pressure is relentless.

“The good thing is when we started, we were at No 7 in the rankings,” said skipper Kohli after India’s win on Sunday. “The only way was up. We laid down a few markers and are lucky to have this group of players. In the last three-four years, it’s amazing to see the hunger in all the guys to keep improving. It’s about guys willing to work hard on those one or two percent things for the team.”

Kohli added: “It’s been nice and looking at the larger picture – the Test Championship, every game has even more value. We are not going to take the foot off the gas in the third Test. We are looking for a result and hopefully make it 3-0. No-one’s going to relax at any stage. That is a guarantee.”

Because of this all-round quality in India’s bowling attack, one can’t help but believe the lively pitch in Pune wasn’t an aberration. India now have the confidence of bowling teams out twice and that is based not just on the strength of their spinners.

If the pitches continue to have something in them for fast bowlers, it will also help the batsmen improve and get used to playing on surfaces that have some carry. It will be a big step in the right direction. As Kohli mentioned, the Test Championship lends significance to every match. If India’s batters get to play the home season on pitches that test their back-foot play consistently, it’ll help them prepare and deliver when the team travels.

Ravi Shastri and Kohli have often spoken about how they want the players to treat any series in the world as a home series. If pitches like the one we saw in Pune become the norm, the coach and skipper may just get their wish.

Kohli has achieved a lot in his career – the World Cup, No 1 ranking, Test series win in Australia, among several other things – and he will add another feather to his cap if he helps rank turners in India become a thing of the past.