Why South Africa need Hashim Amla to get back into form

South Africa need their Test skipper to lead from the front

They say that the night is darkest just before the dawn. If that is indeed true, then South Africa must be hoping that their Test series against India, which has been darker and more horrific than many recent horror movies, will usher in a new dawn in the upcoming home Test series against England.

While most South African supporters would want to forget the ongoing Test series against India as a bad dream and wake up while they are still the No.1 ranked Test team, the reality isn't as simple as that.

Perhaps the most puzzling aspect of the series, hasn't been that the visitors have been blown away by the world's No. 2 ranked Test spinner on surfaces that suit him, but that their fifth-leading Test run scorer has failed to deliver in conditions, which many consider as his stock and trade.

Before getting into nitty gritty of how and why Hashim Amla has failed to deliver in the ongoing Test series, let me make one point clear.

While I admit that the pitches haven't been the greatest to bat on, which is evident from the fact that no player has scored a hundred in the series, Amla is renowned for technique and temperament.

More than anything else, his record in India, prior to this series, was one of the best of any batsman in the history of the game and the South African skipper is arguably one of the finest players of spin bowling that the country has ever produced.So his performance in the ongoing Test series in India is all the more surprising.

Amla’s record in India prior to the ongoing Test series

Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	Highest score
5	10	823	102.87	253*

Amla’s record in current series

Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	Highest score
3	5	90	15	43

Heading into the Test series, although Amla didn't have a particularly memorable T20 or ODI series, he was still averaging 57 from three Tests in 2015. And his 43 in the first innings in Mohali gave one the false impression that Amla had put his limited-overs woes behind. But what followed, both in terms of the way he got out in Mohali and his subsequent run of poor scores in the series is proof that the skipper was out of sorts.

A disappointing year

Even great players are allowed to have their days when they don’t reach the exceptionally high expectations they place on themselves. Perhaps 2015 is just that type of year for Amla in Tests. While his ODI and T20 record for the calendar year are in line with his career average, his Test record certainly isn’t.

Coming into 2015, less than 400 shy of becoming only the fifth South African batsman to reach 7,000 Test runs, many expected Amla to pass that milestone in the ongoing Test series. But two rain-affected Tests in Bangladesh didn’t help that cause and neither did his poor choice of shot selection in the three Tests so far, where he is yet to cross fifty.

Amla’s Test record in 2015

Matches	Innings	Runs	Average	Highest score
6	8	204	29.1	63

One swallow does not a summer make. Perhaps this is just one of those poor patches that every batsman goes through and not an indicator that Amla’s time as a Test batsmen is finished. But one thing is for certain, the 32-year-old certainly needs to puts the year so far behind him and concentrate on the challenge up ahead.

Kohli travelling in the same boat but in different waters

Amla only needs to look at his opposite number, to feel slightly better about not being the only world class batsman, who is also captain of his country, who is going through a rough patch this year.

Virat Kohli’s ODI records speak for themselves, but even they don’t make for great reading in 2015. After scoring over 1000 ODI runs in each of the last four years and averaging at least 45, in every year since 2008, Kohli's return of 623 runs from 20 ODIs at an average of 36.6 in 2015 is his worst since 2008, the year he made his ODI debut.

But despite his poor return in the calendar year, few would deny that he is still India’s best ODI batsman and arguably one of the best ODI batsmen in the world right now as well. And with India not playing another ODI until early January, India's Test captain will have wait till the ODI series against Australia, to get back on track, in his quest to overtake Sachin Tendulkar's ODI records.

However, unlike Kohli, Amla has an opportunity to set things right in the fourth Test in Delhi that starts on Thursday. And the Proteas will need to him to continue the impressive resolve he showed in the second innings of the third Test, where his battle against time and the abrasive pitch, in a knock that was a throwback to the Amla that the South African fans have learned to love.

Given their lack of experience both at the top and in the middle order, South Africa will need their skipper to get back to being the Amla, who made Indian bowlers toil, on his way to an unbeaten double hundred in Nagpur. Perhaps his knock, albeit one much smaller in number, will give him the confidence to get back to basics and go back to doing what he does best, which is grinding the opposition out.

Perhaps, if he does, then South Africa might yet have a chance of not just salvaging some pride from this series, but also ensuring that they end the year, still in possession of the ICC Test Championship mace.