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As the Indian cricket team embarks on a tour to the rainbow nation, a lot is at stake for the young Indian squad. In the post Tendulkar era, a difficult tour of South Africa would be the perfect litmus test for the Indian team. A two month odyssey of intense action has now been reduced to a month long shootout between the best two sides in the world. However, these two teams have lived up to expectations in the past and produced some high quality encounters.
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – JANUARY 02: Graeme Smith of South Africa and MS Dhoni of India toss the coin prior to the start of day 1 of the 3rd Test match between South Africa and India at Newlands Stadium on January 02, 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Duif du Toit / Gallo Images / Getty Images)
Here is a look at some of the classic India vs South Africa test matches:
5) Mumbai 2000:
A tour mostly remembered for the match fixing controversy threw up an exciting test match at the Wankhede stadium. The African side had landed in India and was provided with a bare surface that would offer wicked turn. Despite playing two spinners, it was South Africa’s strength which helped them to dismiss India for 225 in the first innings. Donald, Pollock along with Kallis and Cronje accounted for all the wickets to fall in the first innings. The Indian spinners though spun a web around the African batsman to negate a significant opening partnership between Kirsten and Gibbs. As a result, South Africa were bundled out for just 176. The fragility of the Indian batsmen was exposed in the second outing as they lost the advantage of a 49 run lead to be dismissed for a meagre 113. Buoyed by the experience of Kallis, South Africa chased down the target with 4 wickets left in the bag.
4) Johannesburg 2006:
The bullring threw up a match full of emotion and controversy as India registered its first win on South African soil. The prelude to this match was a 4-0 thrashing lashed out to the Indians at the hands of the hosts in the ODI series. Not much was expected from the Indian side going into the test as the frailties against the moving ball had been terribly exposed. A spirited batting effort by the “Big Four” helped India reach to a respectable 249. In an exuberant display of fast bowling, Sreesanth used the red cherry effectively to make the South African batsman dance to his tunes. South Africa was dismissed for a paltry 84 and India capitalized on the lead to set a mammoth 400 run target. The home team were never in the hunt and succumbed to a 123 run loss. This match is more famously remembered for Sreesanth’s antics after hitting Andre Nel for a straight six.
3) Ahmedabad 1996:
The first test match at Ahmedabad was South Africa’s first test match on Indian soil. On a dusty pitch, India had the advantage after Tendulkar had won the toss and decided to bat first. The Indians were dismissed for 223 in their first innings. Despite a moderate total, Indian spinners wreaked havoc to reduce South Africa to 119 for 7. It took a determined effort from Fannie de Villiers and Pat Symcox to take South Africa into the lead. The visitors continued the momentum to restrict India for 190 and set a get-table 170 in two days. The South African openers would have wanted a strong start but were faced with a rampaging Srinath. Javagal Srinath produced one of his best bowling performances to take 6 wickets. The visitors were dismissed for 105 to set up a come from behind win for India. This test match was also the debut match for V.V.S Laxman.
Srinath’s performance in Ahmedabad:
2) Kolkata 2010:
After being defeated comprehensively in Nagpur, the Indian team reached Kolkata knowing that a win would be required to retain their top ranking. The second test match revolved around only one determined man: Hashim Amla. South Africa after winning the toss reached a comfortable score of 200 for 1 backed by centuries by Amla and Petersen. However, the reverse swing of Zaheer Khan coupled with the inability to play the spinning ball led to the collapse of the South African line-up. South Africa eventually fell apart for only 290. India replied in terrific fashion scoring a mammoth 643 backed up by 4 centuries in the innings. With close to one and half days left, the South Africans had a tough ask on their hands to save the match. The visitors made things even more difficult by losing half their side with 2 sessions to go. Hashim Amla continued to defy the bowlers and was aptly supported by the tail as the match meandered into the last hour. Tensions were rising and India was desperate for the remaining 2 wickets. Such was the state of the match that Virender Sehwag deliberately rolled the ball over the boundary to have Morkel on strike. But the trick did not work and South Africa was awarded penalty runs. Eventually, with close to 10 minutes remaining, a straighter one from Harbhajan trapped Morkel in front to trigger massive celebrations at the Eden. A gigantic effort from Amla went in vain as the visitors failed to play out the entire day.
1) Cape Town 2011:
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – JANUARY 05: Jacques Kallis of South Africa celebrates his 40th Test century during day 4 of the 3rd Test match between South Africa and India at Newlands Stadium on January 05, 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa.
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – JANUARY 04: Sachin Tendulkar of India celebrates his 51st Test century during day 3 of the 3rd Test match between South Africa and India at Newlands Stadium on January 04, 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa.
The best test match of the lot would be the deciding test match of the 2011 series. This was a match which swung like a pendulum and threw up some excellent rivalries. It was a match which was dominated by two of the best batsman in the world: Sachin Tendulkar and Jacques Kallis. The South African first innings revolved around the innings of Kallis who scored a brilliant 161 to lead his team to a score of 362. The Indian innings threw up a magnificent master class from Sachin Tendulkar. Tendulkar negated the lethal fast bowling from Dale Steyn and carefully manufactured runs to score his 51st test century. The match was reduced to a 2nd innings shoot out as India managed a minuscule 2 run lead. It was again the skill of Kallis which helped South Africa out of the woods. From a precarious 130-6, a ton from Kallis helped the Proteas to reach safety and set an almost improbable target for the Indians. India managed to survive testing 80 odd overs to draw the test match and manage their first drawn series in the rainbow nation.
