Tigers At Home, Timid In Another Dome

An ODI series win against Australia and victory against the West Indies was a perfect home season for India. At the end of the home season, India were numero uno in the ODI team rankings by a huge margin,10 rating points to be precise.The future of Indian cricket looked very promising and everyone was expecting a good show by the Indian team in South Africa and New Zealand.

                                           

Right after the conclusion of the 3rd ODI between India and West Indies, Virat Kohli had repeatedly emphasized on the significance of the South African tour. He had said that his team would do well in the all-important tour of the rainbow nation. Little did he know what horror and humiliation had to follow. India need to ask themselves a bunch of questions before they take on the Proteas for the test series.They indeed have a lot to ponder on.

It all started with the 1st ODI in Johannesburg where India were given a real bashing, to say the least. Indian bowlers, complacent, as they usually are, were smashed all around the park. They gave away 358 runs, hoping that the batsmen would once again deliver the goods, but it was too much to ask. Right from the very first ball, the Indian batsmen were on the backfoot.The ball swung and seamed and bounced and skidded. Everybody felt the pitch had changed! It was a completely different strip they were playing on! The Indians,yet again, failed to adapt to the pitch and the conditions.They were defeated. The bowlers looked totally ineffective and the batsmen seemed clueless. It clearly was a one-way traffic.

India lost the first match comprehensively. A disastrous performance, even in the 2nd one-dayer, sealed the series for the visitors.The fans expected a much improved show in the 3rd match and they were again left disappointed.The bowlers failed to impress for the third time in the series.Fortunately for India, the rain Gods showed mercy and the match was called off preventing a 3-0 scoreline.

The 1st test starts in a short time from now and South Africa are undoubtedly the favourites to win it. In fact, a draw would be a great result for India, given India's overseas record and the recent performances against South Africa. But,it would be rather unfair to just write them off. One shouldn't forget their Champion's Trophy win in England and the tri-series win in the Caribbean. Let us all hope for a thrilling and a titillating test series and hopefully, team India would come out on top!