5 best overseas Test comebacks by the Indian team

#2 Durban, 2010

The 3-Test match series ended 1-1

The first Test of the series saw the master Sachin Tendulkar get to his 50th Test hundred (in the second inning of the Test). However, India lost the Test by an innings and 25 runs.

Durban (the venue for the second Test) welcomed India with a green and a pacy pitch. And with conditions overcast, South Africa won the toss and had no hesitation in bowling first. India had already suffered a bad collapse in the first innings of the first Test and a similar suit was followed here (though they were slightly better). All of the top 7 batsmen got in but couldn’t convert it into a big score and hence were bowled out for just 205. Dale Steyn ripped through the Indian batting line-up with 6/50.

With only 205 on the board, it seemed that India were already playing the catching game in the Test match. But an inspired performance from Zaheer Khan (who missed the first Test due to injury) and a dream spell from Harbhajan Singh (4/10) helped India bowl the Proteas out for 131 to give the visitors a handy first innings lead.

In the second innings, India were once again reeling at 93/5. But as was the case for a few years now, the second-innings specialist VVS Laxman came to India’s rescue as he scored an excellent 96 to help India set a target of 303.

South Africa’s chase started strongly with a 63-run opening partnership. But they lost wickets at regular intervals and were bowled out for 215 to hand India a series-levelling victory. Zaheer and Sreesanth took three wickets each in the second innings to help India win the Durban Test.

Brief Scores: India 205 (Laxman 38, Dhoni 35, Steyn 6-50, Tsotsobe 2/40) and 228 (Laxman 96, Morkel 3/47, Tsotsobe 3/43) beat South Africa 131 (Amla 33, Harbhajan 4-10, Zaheer 3/36) and 215 (Prince 39*, Smith 37, Sreesanth 3-35, Zaheer 3-57)