South Africa vs India 2018, 2nd Test: What went wrong for the visitors

South Africa claimed seven Indian wickets early on day five as the visitors, who were chasing 287 for a win, folded on 151 in their second innings at Centurion on Wednesday.

Consequently, the hosts won the second Test by 135 runs and took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

On the other hand, the majority of Virat Kohli's men did not seem to have learned from their mistakes at Cape Town, as they failed to show any resistance and were completely undone by the Proteas.

The third and final Test will be played at the New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg from Wednesday, January 24.

Now, let us have a look at the things that went wrong for Virat Kohli & Co. in the second Test.

#5 Team selection

Coming into the game at Centurion after suffering a 72-run defeat at Cape Town, India made three changes to their playing XI.

KL Rahul replaced Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma came in for Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Parthiv Patel was included in place of wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha, who was ruled out due to a strain.

As Virat Kohli announced the team for the second Test at the toss, he received a lot of flak on social media for dropping in-form Bhuvneshwar Kumar and not picking Ajinkya Rahane ahead of KL Rahul.

Rahane has been India’s best batsman away from home in the last 3-4 years, even though he scored only 17 runs in his last 5 innings, he is definitely more reliable than Rahul.

However, dropping Bhuvneshwar instead of Jasprit Bumrah to bring in experienced Ishant Sharma left Indian fans fuming.

With his exhilarating new-ball opening spell of swing bowling, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had crippled the Proteas early in the first Test and India definitely missed the services of the 27-year-old at Centurion.

#4 Batsmen throwing away wickets at crucial junctures

South Africa's bowlers were definitely better than their Indian counterparts and their effort should not be discounted, but, the visitors' batsmen did throw away their wickets at crucial junctures that led to their crushing defeat by 135 runs at Centurion.

The hosts were also put in some uncomfortable situations by Indian bowlers but their batsmen stitched up partnerships to take the Proteas out of troubled waters.

When AB de Villiers walked out to bat in the second innings, South Africa's scorecard read 3/2.

It seemed that another batting collapse, like the one in hosts'second outing at Cape Town, was on the cards.

But, De Villiers had different plans. The former Proteas skipper and opener Dean Elgar batted out of their skins and extended the lead to 118 at stumps on day three.

Skipper Faf du Plessis' stonewalling effort in both his innings at the SuperSports Park frustrated his opponents and proved to be a major differentiator between the two teams.

On the other hand, Virat Kohli fought a lone battle in the first innings as no other Indian batsman showed intent.

#3 Average bowling performance

Spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was able to frustrate South Africa as he managed to get the ball to turn on an un-Centurion pitch and ended up claiming four wickets in the first innings.

Even Ishant Sharma, who was brought in by dropping in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, looked promising as he claimed three wickets in the first outing.

But overall, the Indian bowlers were not able to pose any major threat to the hosts as a unit as South Africa managed to score 335 in the first innings.

In the second innings, Jasprit Bumrah, who remained wicketless in his first outing at the SuperSport Park, dismissed Dean and Elgar and Hashim Amla to reduce the hosts to 3/2.

However, the visitors were not able to capitalize on start provided by the pacer as AB de Villiers, Dean Elgar and Faf de Plessis consolidated South Africa by taking their lead past 200.

Mohammed Shami did claim four crucial wickets in the second innings but it was too late by then. The Proteas were eventually dismissed on 258 in the second innings and left India with a target of 287.

#2 Running between the wickets

Hardik Pandya's bizarre run-out on day three was termed as 'unforgivable' by former India captain Sunil Gavaskar as the 45-run partnership between the all-rounder and skipper Virat Kohli was broken due to a needless blunder.

Pandya, who tried to steal a quick single but was sent back by Kohli, turned back and casually entered the crease while Vernon Philander's direct hit had rattled his stumps by then.

It was baffling to see in the TV replays that Pandya's bat and foot were both in the air when the ball hit stumps.

Cheteshwar Pujara's appalling running between the wickets added to India's growing list of woes on the ongoing tour of South Africa as the Saurashtra batsman ran himself out in both the innings at Centurion.

Moreover, he became the first Indian and 23rd batsman overall, to be run out twice in a Test.

India’s Test specialist Pujara also registered the first golden duck of his career when he ran himself out in the first innings on Sunday.

The 29-year-old took on debutant Lungi Ngidi, but a direct hit got the better of him.

Overall, Pujara now has five ducks in Test cricket and interestingly, he has been run out for the most number of times in Test Cricket since 2012.

#1 No resistance shown by batsmen

Team India scored 307 runs in their first innings at Centurion and skipper Virat Kohli scored 153 of those.

It was a one-man show all the way as the 29-year-old produced yet another masterful innings to keep his team afloat in their first outing at the SuperSport Park.

Other than Kohli, opener Murali Vijay (46) and Ravichandran Ashwin (38) showed some resistance, while all the other Indian batsmen fell like nine pins.

The story of the second innings was even worse as chasing 287 to win, the visitors could manage just 151 with Rohit Sharma's 47 being the highest.

Seven Indian batsmen including Kohli, KL Rahul and Pandya could not even manage to get into double figures.