It was definitely an awesome performance by the South Africans at Greenpath to defeat hosts India in the first test of a 2 match series. After an unconvincing performance back home against England, to defeat India in India in the opening test has to be special for skipper Smith. India as we know is one of the most difficult frontiers’s to conquer which makes the effort of South Africa all the more remarkable!

The strength of the Proteas has been their fast bowling and the manner Dale Steyn and Morkel bowled was ample evidence of the threat they possessed. Mind you the tracks in India as we all know, is not the most pace-friendly and to claim 10 wickets on such a track amounts to the great skill. Steyn besides possessing genuine speed has a skill in abundance in his armory resulting in this outstanding return.

The fact that he is aggressive and willing to intimidate batsmen is a priceless quality which was put to good use by him, with the Indian batsmen being subjected to vicious short pitched bowling too. And as for Morkel who represents a giant standing almost 6ft 5 inches or more was as slippery and difficult to handle though he didn’t have the figures to prove his real worth. With the gradual decline of Makhaya Ntini, the South African duo of Steyn and Morkel has slowly but surely made their mark on the scene and it is very apparent that the pair complements each other in the manner they bowl. With Steyn the skiddy fast bowler and Morkel the intimidating and bouncy customer extracting steep lift from the most docile track.
Besides their batting one must admit that the South African win was almost single handedly fashioned by fast bowler Dale Steyn. The Indian batting in both innings were reduced to tatters with just Sehwag and Tendulkar making anything noteworthy and the debutant Badrinath also scoring a solid half century.

South African cricketer AB De Villiers (L) hugs teammate Dale Steyn as they celebrate the wicket of Indian cricketer Wriddhiman Shah on the fourth day of the first cricket Test match AFP

The Indians definitely missed Dravid and Laxman and not so much Yuvraj, which brings me to the question of the strength of Indian cricket. A closer look at the Indian batting still suggests that they are still very much dependent on the old brigade of Sehwag, Tendulkar, Laxman and Dravid. This is definitely not good news for any Indian cricket. True Badrinath withstood the strenuous test by the South Africans but Saha included in the eleventh hour due to injury to a top batsman couldn’t survive the work out and has been left out for the next test. And if one looks around the world hasn’t seen many batting options either with Raina, Kohli and Karthik the only batsmen tried when in need.

The bowling department too is a story of over dependency on seamer Zaheer Khan who is on the other side of thirty and the off spinner Harbhajan Singh. Whilst Ishant Sharma has blossomed in patches, the Indian bowling too doesn’t seem to posses a quality bowler either spin or pace who could be a threat on a consistent basis. After their rather easy test series win against Sri Lanka, the performance in their first home test for the year would have disappointed M.S. Dhoni the captain, but in fairness the options available to him appeared to be limited and below par or otherwise how could one possibly explain South Africa reaching 558/6 despite being reduced to 6 for 2. One also felt that Dhoni’s mind set was more on saving the game than really looking to force a victory. The selection of Saha as a batsman at the expense of an extra bowler surely had its effects on the final score line as the Indian bowlers were virtually helpless during the Amla, Kallis stand!

As far as the South Africans are concerned, it only baffles me as to know how they only drew a home series against England and lost the ODI series to them. With a line up as experienced as what they have and with the Kallis factor emerging strongly the South Africans could be termed as one of the most balanced sides in the world of cricket. The only area of concern may be the lack of a quality spinner with Harris being adequate than anything else. However the inconsistency factor too which gets associated with South Africa on a regular basis could be their biggest draw back.

This is confirmed by the way they performed at home losing to Australia after beating them convincingly in Australia and their rather lackluster performance against England at home resulting in a draw rather than a win, which tends to question their mental strength and the ability to win at a consistent rate. If one was to disassociate the South Africans from that factor, they look the most competitive and the strongest team on display. A series win in India will take them to the no 1 spot in the ICC test rankings, which means a draw in the 2nd Test at Kolkata should be just right for them.

The out come of that game will confirm whether my thinking of they being inconsistent is accurate or otherwise!

Roshan Abeysinghe is a leading cricket promoter and an international cricket commentator