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India vs South Africa 2015: Proteas losing ground in Gandhi-Mandela Series

Yet another day of India’s dominance has put some doubts about the top-ranked Test team in the world, South Africa.

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Captain Virat Kohli and R Ashwin celebrating their success against South Africa on Day 1 at Bengaluru © AFP
Captain Virat Kohli and R Ashwin celebrating their success against South Africa on Day 1 at Bengaluru © AFP

Yet another day of India’s dominance has put some doubts about the top-ranked Test team in the world, South Africa. It has been a one-way traffic as far as Test cricket is concerned with India putting up dominant shows on a consistent basis, and South Africa is rapidly losing the ground in the ongoing Gandhi-Mandela Series 2015. At Bengaluru, on a wicket that favoured none in particular, South Africa’s performance had a little difference than their show in the first Test on a spin-friendly wicket. The world No. 1 side is rapidly losing ground to India, and Sunday could well be the defining day of the series. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs South Africa 2nd Test at Bengaluru

India are placed strongly at 80 for no loss after the first day, and trailing by another 134, they would need to carry on in the same passion. Having shot out South Africa for a paltry 214, all that India needs to do is to put up a first innings score in excess of 400, and the scoreboard will take care of the rest. South Africa, with their batting mainstays in Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis struggling, are likely to crumble in scoreboard pressure. AB de Villiers has been waging lone battles for his side, but to get out of the jail that India is planning to construct, will be an uphill task for South Africa. COMPLETE CRICKET UPDATES: India vs South Africa, 2nd Test at Bengaluru

The reason why the tourists are failing consistently is because two out of their three batting mainstays are not doing their bit. Before the start of the series, it was assumed that South Africa’s fortunes willdepend a lot on how the troika of de Villiers, Amla and du Plessis would perform. With only de Villiers standing up to the challenge so far in these two Tests, South Africa are reeling under pressure because of the poor contributions made by their senior batsmen in du Plessis and Amla.

India are likely to lay foundations for a win in the second Test at Bengaluru on Sunday. Trailing by 134, India would know that there is ample amount of cricket left in this Test and they need a strong lead against South Africa before they unleash their spinners once again. Both Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan have looked solid, and South Africa will need their bowlers to bail them out of the trouble, which they have already walked in. India have their batsmen in readiness to do the job for them, and who knows, they might actually not be needed to bat for the second time in this Test if they put up a massive first innings total.

The South Africans are rapidly losing the ground that they had gained over India in the limited-overs leg of the series. The reason why South Africa was able to emerge victorious in Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) and the One-Day Internationals (ODIs) was simple: they were able to exploit India’s haplessness in the bowling department in limited-overs cricket, which is not the case in Tests. In the conventional format, the combination of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja is enough to demolish best of the batting line-ups in Test cricket, and with their bagful of struggles, South African chances of fight back with the bat are bleak for now.

If South Africa have to make a way back into their contests against India, they will have to start matching the hosts, both with the bat and with the ball. In the first Test, South Africa showed their bowlers can put Indians in pressure, but it is their batting which is turning the tables against them.

(DevarchitVarma is senior writer with CricketCountry. He can be followed on Twitter @Devarchit)

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