India Destroys South Africa

South Africa followed defeat on a spin-friendly Mohali pitch with a batting failure on a normal Indian pitch in Bangalore. The pattern has repeated itself: Nagpur was treacherous to batsmen, Delhi offered close to 50-50 balance between bat and ball, but there was no change in South Africa's batting fortunes.

Responding to India's 334, they were bowled out for 121, 14 short of the follow-on mark. Play was called off for bad light soon after South Africa lost their final wicket, but only after India had confirmed they weren't going to make the visitors bat again.

The state of the match reflected how well India bowled as a unit, but also how poorly South Africa played. There was surely a psychological element to it, amply displayed in the dismissal of Faf du Plessis, who has had a horror tour. In Bangalore, he was out jumping down the pitch, premeditatedly, to the third ball he faced. Here, he attempted a lap-sweep off the second ball he faced and only managed to spoon the ball into the leg-slip region. Ajinkya Rahane had enough time to sprint across from slip and complete the catch. Whatever the conditions are, it must be hard to bat normally when you are an out-of-form batsman on the losing side at the tail-end of a long tour.

Read the full story here. 

HOME