Indian cricket team repaying the fans' trust in South Africa

Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara

The South African safari was termed as a litmus test for MS Dhoni. Oh yes, India had lost 8 Test matches on the trot on foreign soil. Yes, they had done reasonably well after that. Thumping Australia 4-0, winning the Champions Trophy and then winning the series in West Indies.

But they still hadn’t been tested on any hostile conditions. Keeping aside the Champions Trophy in England, the Indian cricket team had mostly been in their comfort zone.

So clubbing these reasons surely concluded that the South African tour was going to be one big tour all of us, or to be more precise the world had been looking forward to.

Facing the world’s best Test side in the conditions where one cannot differentiate the 22-yard strip from the rest of the ground, and when the opposition has a bunch of fast bowlers who have the ability to bowl 150 kmph + on a consistent basis was always going to be a tough task. Indians haven’t been great playing the short ball – this chink in the armour of the Indian side was surely going to be exploited.

There was something missing. The 5 foot 5 inch guy who had been carrying the burden for the last two and a half decades had hung up his boots. This was a void which could never be filled, but can only be compensated for partially. MS Dhoni had to pass another litmus test.

Zaheer was brought back into the side and rightly so. You ought to have the most experienced bowler with you in such hostile conditions. Hopes were high, somewhere every Indian had a self-belief that India might thump South Africa in their den. Of course, this was termed as a faint hope.

The Indians were brutally thrashed in the one day series, and all the hopes were dashed. Nobody was willing to put money on the Indian side. History showed that some of the major Test playing nations like Australia, New Zealand and Pakistan had been bundled out for a score less than 50 in South Africa. And with the kind of form the Indian players showed in the ODI leg of the series, another whitewash was on the cards.

But the true Indian fan, yes I am talking about the true Indian cricket fan that worships cricket, still had a hope in his heart that Indian will bounce back.

You have to believe the person who brought laurels to our cricket crazy nation. The first innings did expose some lacklustre stroke play but also brought some glimpse that the Indian team had dumped the past and was ready to break the shackles.

Zaheer’s presence helped Ishant Sharma bowl a spell which is being considered as his best after the one which he had bowled in Perth, making Ricky Ponting dance to his tunes. Getting a lead and then going on to stretch it with some great batting by the Pujara and Kohli. Even Murali Vijay spent some considerable amount of time on the pitch making the ball lose its sheen.

The Indian cricket team is on the verge of creating history. This is something which had been termed as ‘impossible’ by the greatest cricket pundits of the cricketing fraternity. Even when the times are tough, one has to have the self-belief.

A series win in South Africa will make MS Dhoni the greatest captain ever. Such a great man he has been. He has the belief and has the ability to back what he believes even when the odds are not in his favour. Certainly, an inspiration for many.