Cape Town: Defining moments – that is a frequent question asked to celebrities and sportspersons – and they usually have an answer. Well the present Indian cricket team under Virat Kohli are up against one such moment when the first Test of the three-game Freedom Series, against South Africa gets underway at the Newlands here, Friday.
Nine series wins on the trot – six at home, two in Sri Lanka and one in West Indies – have made the Indians look impregnable in the last couple of years. But they have a different challenge now, something they haven’t faced in the past 18 months, that of pace, bounce and swing.
Modern day cricket is all about superiority at home and Faf du Plessis and his team will no doubt, want to establish their supremacy from ball one. The big question is whether Indian batters will allow them to do so. Many are touting the three-game Test series as a battle between the hosts’ pacers and their Indian counterparts. But then according to head coach Ravi Shastri, the side that bat well will come out triumphant in the series.
“It all boils down to batsmen, the fate of the series. Both teams have bowlers who can take 20 wickets, hence the role of the batters will assume significance in deciding who come out on top,” Shastri has been quoted as saying by a South African paper here, Thursday.
The Indians have been on a high here since their arrival, high in confidence, high in energy and high in making their positive intentions clear. Whether they can convert those on the dry Newlands pitch, which will have bounce and carry, remains to be seen though? However, one can safely assume that this Indian side will leave no stone unturned to achieve their first ever series win in South Africa and bag the ‘greatest ever’ tag.
Both sides do not seem to have chinks in their armour, but then there are. The form of Ajinkya Rahane and Hashim Amla are a bit of concern for the two competitors. However, champions always make it a point to come good when it matters the most and the two certainly will try to give their best for the respective sides.
Bowling-wise both teams look equally balanced. India have the pace and swing of Umesh Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohammed Shami while South Africa have the ability to hit back through Kagiso Rabada, Vernon Philander and the bounce of the tall Morne Morkel. In the spin department, India however, are a step ahead with Ravi Ashwin having oodles of experience in comparison to that left-arm tweaker – Keshav Maharaj.
But as said earlier, it will be the batters who will matter. Whether India can rein in the likes of AB de Villiers, Hashim Amla and Du Plsessis through one of their most potent pace attacks in a decade and more or whether the hosts can shackle the free-stroking Shikhar Dhawan, Murali Vijay, Kohli and Rahane, will go a long way in determining the future of the series.
It is the time for India to finally shed the ‘poor traveller’ tag. They have the talent, but then talent does not only count. Test cricket is all about grit, courage and determination. The more India combine these three virtues with talent, the better it will be for them.
Time for boys to turn real men.
Agencies
