India take on South Africa on Saturday at the storied Eden Gardens in Kolkata.  Assuming that the Cricket Association of Bengal does not produce a vicious turner, and even if they do, considering how well Harris did, and how poorly Harbhajan and Mishra did in Nagpur, the prospect an Indian victory however seems remote.  India have not looked so vulnerable at home, since the days of Clive Lloyd and his mighty West Indian unit in the 1980s.

If Virender Sehwag was right in his assessment of the abilities of the Bangladeshis, one has to admit that Shakib al Hasan, also was right in his assessment of the Indians.  He had said that he thought South Africa and Australia were better teams, and on the evidence of the first Test, he was right.

Of course circumstances conspired against India, in that two of their three most experienced batsmen were unavailable due to injury.  Additionally, one of the chosen replacements injured himself just minutes before the start of the match, pitch forking a rookie wicket keeper into the role of specialist batsman.  The utter absurdity of the situation called into question the abilities of the Selectors as well.  How could a team missing two or three key batsmen only pick seven specialist batsmen in the squad, including one very doubtful starter in the form of the injured VVS Laxman? 

On top of the selectoral and injury woes, India also lost the toss, and then compounded their misery, despite a very good start, by going on the defensive very, very quickly.  At no point did Mahendara Singh Dhoni seek to press home the advantage that Zaheer Khan gave India with two very quick breakthroughs, reducing South Africa to 6 for 2 within minutes of the start of play.  It seemed that from the start Dhoni’s game plan was to play defense rather than offense.  South Africa, unlike Australia, showed immense patience in the face of containing tactics and ground their way remorselessly towards an insurmountable lead.   In Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla they had just the men for the job, both immensely focused and infinitely patient, who added over 300 runs and batted India out of the match. 

After their marathon the only question was, could India’s batsmen match them in both intent and execution and save the match.  With a severely weakened middle order, India depended heavily on its  vaunted opening pair of Gambhir and Sehwag to blunt the new ball attack.  However, Gambhir, who has had a dream run, including five consecutive Tests with at least one century, and eleven consecutive Tests with at least one fifty, found the pace and bounce of Morkel and Steyn, too much to handle.  It is too early to criticize him after one poor Test, but what was apparent to those who saw his dismissals in both innings, was that his technique as an opener against an attack that was of a quality much higher than most of the attacks he has flayed recently, was suspect.  With the opening pair providing no protection, India’s inexperienced middle order was exposed quickly and collapsed in a heap twice against some very smart and very quick bowling by the South Africans.

It was amazing to see senior citizen Jacques Kallis working up pace approaching 90 mph, while Ishant Sharma, who just a few series ago was giving Ricky Ponting a roasting, trundling in and bowling at around 75-80 mph.  The difference in intent and commitment to the cause was there for all to see.

Dhoni has been a very good captain at leading from the front, but now his ability to inspire and lead his men when their backs are to the wall will be severely tested.   One hopes for his sake and India’s that he is up to the challenge.

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