South Africa vs India Test series 2013-14: 7 things Team India learned on this tour

As India’s tour of South Africa draws to a close, it’s only fair to state that India have put up a spirited performance in the Test series against the no.1 ranked Test side. Since the batting performance during the ODI series was largely an aberration, very few would have put their money on the likes of Kohli, Pujara and Vijay to come up with such a splendid show with the bat in the Test series.

Win or lose, there are always positives and negatives to come out of any tournament, and from India’s perspective, they have a mixed bag of conspicuous commodities that need to be addressed before the tours of New Zealand, England and Australia come thick and fast during 2014. Here is a list of seven significant talking points to come out of the Test series against South Africa for India:

Murali Vijay could well be a long-term Test opener for India

Murali Vijay needs to be given the due credit for the way he has blunted the venom that Dale Steyn & co. possess at the top of the batting order. His scores of 6 & 39 in the first Test match of the series at the Wanderers might not seem significant, but the amount of time he spent in the middle and number of deliveries he consumed, made the task of Kohli and Pujara that bit more easier.

To be fair to him, not many would have expected Vijay to come up with such a pertinent batting style for the conditions that prevail in the rainbow nation, but his technique and presence in the middle has been a calming influence for the dressing room.

Where does Murali Vijay go from such a beautiful show in an overseas Test series? Well, he has probably stuffed the mouths of his detractors, and from what I believe, he has earned himself a permanent Test spot for at least another year.

Kudos, Vijay!

Retirement of Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman hasn’t been felt

Yes, I am indeed referring to the current no.3 & no.4 of the Indian batting lineup – Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli.

Pujara does possess the technique that is tailor-made for the longer version of the game, but his unflappable demeanor is what makes him that bit more special. Never do you see fear in his eyes, a false-shot in anger, or the effect of pressure getting to him during various stages of a Test match. The importance of this Test series for Pujara can’t be underlined enough, and there’s a lot of confidence to take out of his performance as far as Pujara goes. Maybe, another ‘wall of Indian cricket’ in the making.

Virat Kohli, just like Sachin Tendulkar, has made his bat do the talking and his hunger for runs just keeps mounting with each passing game. His 119 in the first innings of the Johannesburg Test match was of significant importance from the team’s perspective, and the manner in which he counter-attacked after the fall of two early wickets was great to see. The 96 that he made in the 2nd innings was close to perfect, but I felt that there was some kind of negativity attached towards the latter part of that knock, which subsequently led to his undoing.

As a testimony to the performances of these two, Team India hasn’t quite felt the retirements of the massive trio that held fort for India during all these years.

India’s middle and lower-middle order has proved to be futile

Albeit the Indian top order comprising of Vijay, Dhawan, Pujara and Kohli have managed to do justice to their roles, the middle and lower-middle order haven’t put up crucial runs at the rear of the Indian innings on all 3 occasions thus far.

Rohit Sharma went to South Africa with exorbitant amount of runs behind him against the visiting Australian and West Indian sides, but a complete failure in both the Test and ODI series against the Proteas could well reignite the questions that were asked of him prior to the aforementioned tournaments.

His nature of dismissals have been rather horrendous. A wild slash to a ball well outside the off-stump in the 1st innings of the Johannesburg Test match showed his attitude, and trying to leave a ball that was darting into middle stump in the first innings of the 2nd Test match at Durban was abominable to watch as well. And there’s no skepticism on my part that Rohit should take the blame for the Indian middle order’s failure in the 2 match Test series.

Barring Ajinkya Rahane’s grit and determination to guts it out midst some hostile fast bowling, Indian middle-order batting (MS Dhoni included) is proving to be futile and fortunately, hasn’t paid the price for it.

Team India need to address this quickly, if they have ambitions of winning overseas. You just can’t keep crumbling to 14/5 and 16/5 on a consistent basis and expect to get away with it.

Mohamed Shami has been rather impressive

Mohamed Shami’s performances in his tender Test career is promising to say the least. He has burst on to the scene as someone, who has a completely different pedigree compared to other Indian fast bowlers. He has pace, runs in hard, rattles the batsman with a vicious bouncer and has a complete repertoire that’s necessary for any fast bowler.

Shami’s exploits in his short Test career so far speak for themselves, but hope against hope that he doesn’t prove to be another Ishant Sharma, who had a mind-blowing Test series against Australia in their own backyard in 2008, and has since struggled to come up with the goods.

Fingers Crossed!

Ashwin’s prowess in overseas conditions is a worry

There is a whole lot of dimensions to why Ashwin isn’t doing enough as the lead spinner for India in overseas conditions (I did a piece on how he can manage his bowling when India tour abroad).

Alternatively, since Ashwin has an impressive batting capability for a no.8, MS Dhoni can maybe use him as an all-rounder at no.7 and play an extra bowler. That could just give Team India the balance of going in with 5 specialist batsmen, a wicket-keeper batsman, an all-rounder and 4 specialist bowlers. In case Ashwin continues to be inept with his spin-bowling when India tour abroad, the aforementioned team composition could be the ideal way to make use of the available resources and come up with the goods as well. Mind you, Ashwin is the world’s no.1 all-rounder in ICC’s Test rankings.

The “4-bowler theory” nearly cost India the first Test match at Johannesburg

Going in with just 4 specialist bowlers for South African conditions can prove to be suicidal, and Team India very nearly felt the negative side of it when their bowlers struggled to keep Faf Du Plessis and AB De Villiers in check towards the 2nd and 3rd session on the final day of the Johannesburg Test match.

You just can’t allow your fast bowlers to toil away on a flat surface, which doesn’t offer you anything. No matter how much you try to rotate your 4 bowlers, tiredness becomes a massive factor to contend with as the Test match progresses and the likes of Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma aren’t the fittest fast bowlers, who can run in right throughout the day.

MS Dhoni needs to figure out how he can get his bowling combination right when India tour abroad. Thankfully, on this occasion India were let off the hook by Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn, who failed to capitalize on an opportunity to make history.

An overseas Test win after the 8-0 debacle remains elusive

Well, you got to applaud MS Dhoni’s men for what they have been able to achieve in the 2-match Test series, but when and where is that 1st overseas Test win going to come for Team India?

India has certainly put up a brave show in this Test series against the no.1 ranked Test side and showed that they are no pushovers as was speculated in the cricketing world fraternity prior to this series, but slight mending with the available resources could give Team India the cutting edge it requires to win abroad.