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South Africa vs India: Five most memorable Test clashes between the two sides
Ahead of the three-match Test series between India and South Africa, Hindustan Times looks back at five of the most memorable Test encounters between the sides.
India was the first country South Africa played in an international game in 1991 after their readmission to international cricket following a 21-year ban, which was imposed on them due to the nation’s racial discriminatory policies known as apartheid. (SA v IND 1st Test live updates)
Since then, the two nations have shared a strong bond in cricket with teams from both countries playing each other on regular basis. (SA v IND 1st Test live scorecard)
Though Indian and South African players have always enjoyed a strong bonhomie among themselves, when it comes to on-field contest, the two sides have produced some of the most riveting cricket matches so far.
With India set to embark on their 56-day tour of the rainbow nation with the first Test of the three-match series beginning in Cape Town today, it’s a good time to take a trip down the memory lane and recall five of the most memorable Test clashes between the two outfits.
Johannesburg - December 15-18, 2006
Coming into the Johannesburg Test in 2006, India had played nine Tests on the soil of rainbow nation without tasting a victory even once. And the chance to end the winless streak even in this series was dismal considering the team had been drubbed 3-0 in the ODI series that preceded the Test series.
South Africa began the match well bowling India out for 249 with Sourav Ganguly, who was making a comeback to the Indian side after being dropped due to poor form, top scoring with an unbeaten 51. The visitors would have hoped to bat the tourists out of the game, but then they ran into young S Sreesanth.
The 23-year old boy from Kerala swung the ball prodigiously to demolish home batsmen as India were able to bowl out home side for a meagre 84. Though the hosts fared better in the second innings, it didn’t stop India from registering their first ever victory in Test matches on the South African soil. Though South Africa went on to win the next two matches to clinch the series, this victory would always remain memorable for India.
Brief scores: India 249 (Ganguly 51*, Pollock 4/39) & 236 (Laxman 73, Pollock 3/33) beat South Africa 84 (Prince 24, Sreesanth 5/40) & 278 (Prince 97, Kumble 3/54, Sreesanth 3/59) by 123 runs.
Ahmedabad - November 20-23, 1996
The Ahmedabad Test of South Africa’s tour to India in 1996 is best remembered for a hostile spell of fast bowling from former Indian pacer Javagal Srinath. When South Africa were set a target of 170 to win on the fourth day of the Test, the result looked a forgone conclusion.
However, Srinath had other ideas as he produced one of the best spells of fast bowling by an Indian pacer to scythe through the visitors’ batting. SA could only manage 105 as India won the first Test of the three-match series by 64 runs. Though the Proteas came back with a win in Kolkata, the home side sealed the series with another win in the final Test in Kanpur.
Brief scores: India 223 (Tendulkar 42, Donald 4/37) & 190 (Laxman 51, Adams 3/30) beat South Africa 244 (P de Villiers 67, Joshi 4/43) & 105 (Cronje 48, Srinath 6/21) by 64 runs.
Mumbai - February 24-26, 2000
It was the first Test of a two-match series that South Africa went on to win 2-0 and thus became the first team to win a Test series in India since Pakistan’s 1-0 victory in a five-match series in 1986-87. The match witnessed a superb all-round show from Indian captain Sachin Tendulkar, who also walked away with the man-of-the-match award, but Hansie Cronje’s team managed to hold their nerves to register a thrilling four-wicket victory to take a 1-0 lead in the series.
Batting first, India were bowled out for 225 with Tendulkar playing the captain’s knock on his way to a well-composed 97. Tendulkar then returned to claim three crucial wickets in his short spell of five overs as the visitors were rolled over for only 176 and India gained a lead of 49 runs.
India, though, lost the game in their second innings when they were skittled out for a paltry 113 with Shaun Pollock wreaking havoc claiming a four-for. A target of 163 was still tough to get on a pitch offering plenty of turn and when South Africa were reduced to 128 for 6, India were in with a chance to seal the game. However, Mark Boucher (27 off 32), in the company of Jacques Kallis, swept Indian spinners with great effect and took his side home.
Brief scores: South Africa 176 (Kirsten 50, H Gibbs 47, Tendulkar 3/10, Srinath 3/45) & 164/6 (Gibbs 46, Kallis 36, Kumble 4/56) beat India 225 (Tendulkar 97, Agarkar 41, Kallis 3/30, Donald 2/23) & 113 (Dravid 37, Pollock 4/24, Cronje 3/23) by four wickets.
Durban - December 26-29, 2010
A Test that witnessed a great fightback from an Indian team. After suffering a humiliating an innings and 25-run defeat in the first Test of the series in Centurion, India, led by a young MS Dhoni, scripted a memorable comeback in Durban as they trounced the hosts by 87 runs in a low-scoring contest to level the series.
Batting first, India managed only 205 with Dale Steyn claiming a six-for. At this stage, another series defeat loomed for the visitors but the pace-spin duo of Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh turned the game on its head by sharing seven wickets between them as the home side was bowled out for only 131.
India were reduced to 93/5 in their second innings before Laxman dug deep to score a classy 96 to take the team’s total past 200. Faced with a daunting task of chasing 302 in the fourth innings, South Africa ran into Sreesanth again and could only muster 215.
Brief scores: India 205 (Laxman 38, Steyn 6/50) & 228 (Laxman 96, Tsotsobe 3/43) beat South Africa 131 (Amla 33, Harbhajan 4/10) & South Africa 215 (Prince 39, Sreesanth 3/45) by 87 runs.
Johannesburg - December 18-22, 2013
A drawn Test that had more drama than a Bollywood blockbuster. After both teams were evenly matched in their first innings, India rode on a hundred from Cheteshwar Pujara and a stroke-filled 96 from Virat Kohli to post a mammoth 421 in their second innings. The home side had their back against the wall when they faced a fourth innings target of 458 runs.
Never in the history of Test cricket as many runs had been successfully chased and therefore many thought that the only results possible from thereon were either an Indian win or a draw. However, the home batsmen came with a winning intent as Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers sent Indian bowlers on a leather hunt.
Such was the domination of South African batsmen that at one stage they needed only 16 runs from the last 19 balls with four wickets to spare. However, the loss of du Plessis stopped the visiting batsmen from going for an all-out assault as the match ended in a thrilling draw.
Brief scores: India 280 (Kohli 119, Morkel 3/34) & 421 (Pujara 153, Kohli 96, Kallis 3/68) drew with South Africa 244 (Smith 68, Ishant 4/79) & 450/7 (du Plessis 134, de Villiers 103, Shami 3/107).
