The shortest Test match

All it took was 1 day and 3 hours, 642 balls to be precise for India to win at Cape Town against South Africa. This was also the first Test win for India on that ground. The entire Test went like in the words of Ravi Shastri “tracer bullet”. Every delivery something was to happen. Literally, every delivery had a wicket written on the ball. The pitch did not support the batsmen a wee-bit. It was loaded completely in favour of the bowlers. Fast bowlers precisely. Bowlers from both the sides utilised the conditions to the tee and some have even enhanced their career average and strike rate. This is my two cents about the shortest Test match.

Siraj will probably not get to bowl on such a pitch again until he goes back to South Africa. He was rightly adjudged the player of the match though Markaram scored a wonderful 100. Siraj’s first day burst literally put the game beyond South Africa.

“To be honest, it’s my best figures in my Test career. I didn’t think too much and just wanted to hit the right areas. Got the learnings from last game that I didn’t hit the right lengths and I wanted to be relentless with my length here. When we play together with Bumrah, we analyse the wicket quicker and understand the plans. Keep supporting, keep loving.”

I think that it is alright to play on such pitches frequently because why must batsmen have all the fun? Australian pitches have become batsmen-friendly. England leaves a lot of grass only for teams from Asia. Otherwise, they are also good for batting. Pakistan, it need not be said. A couple of years ago, they prepared poor pitches that bowlers were rendered surplus for the requirement.

Pacy pitch

The South Africans themselves were caught unawares by the pace and bounce on offer. It was so bad that both the captain Dean Elgar and the batting consultant, Ashwell Prince, stopped just short of criticising the pitch itself.

“It (The pitch) generally plays a little bit slower and as a batter you can adjust to that. This one just seemed to get quicker as the session went on,” Elgar told Star Sports in his post-match interview.

“I’ve never seen the pitch that quick on day one,” Prince said at the post-match press conference. “I don’t think as batters you mind the pace in the wicket but then you need the bounce to be consistent. The bounce was a little bit inconsistent with some keeping low and some bouncing quite steeply. There’s also the seam movement, which you don’t mind on day one but if you have the seam movement with consistent bounce, then it’s a different situation.”

South Africa could not resist criticising the pitch

Well, the captain and the coach didn’t want to criticise the pitch on the first day but the coach did not hold himself after the game ended.

“All the ethics and values of Test cricket go out the window. This was just a slug-fest, a slogathon and [about] whoever was luckier.”

For his part, Rohit Sharma wasn’t that critical of the pitch at all but he said in no uncertain terms that when teams visit India, they must stop cribbing and learn to play on the rank turners that Indian pitches produce. He has a point. I have never read Indians complaining about pitches whenever they travel to England, Australia, South Africa or New Zealand. They have tried to adapt to the surface that was provided for the game. Most of the time, the batsmen have failed but we the supporters, blamed the inability of the players to alter their technique to survive and thrive on such pitches.

Perhaps, the cricketing world was not thrilled to see such a pitch at Cape Town with so much bounce but that is how the game must be played. Test cricket for a reason is known as Test. It is the test of a batsman’s ability to adapt to different surfaces and the bowler’s tenacity to pick up wickets when there is absolutely nothing in it for them.

Mohammed Siraj’s incisive spell

Siraj was the main architect of this triumph. He was brilliant in that first innings. Ofcourse, the pitch helped him a great deal but to be able to take advantage of that is what good bowlers are made of. Wickets fell at regular intervals which ensured that he bowled 9 overs on the trot. Siraj has shown that he is capable of being the vital 1^st change bowler for sometime now. He still needs to improve on the economy rate. If only he could tighten that part of his bowling and pick up wickets regularly, he could go onto become one of the best to have played for India.

Wrapping up the shortest Test match

Having won the series, I don’t think India must be satisfied with this result. Afterall, they are yet to win a series in South Africa despite playing in that country for more than 20 years. They have come close on a couple of previous occasions but fell short. This was again a great opportunity, probably the greatest opportunity but it was squandered again. Prasidh Krishna, who was lucky to make his debut on two pitches that favoured his type of bowling, was not only found wanting but was treated with disdain. Even a club-level bowler would have gained some respect but PK was atrocious.

Yes, this was his first series but on such pitches, even if he wasn’t able to run through the opposition, would have been less expensive with a few wickets. He did neither. I am afraid he is not an international class bowler. It also means that outside of Bumrah, Siraj and Shami, the bowling stocks are threadbare. No one knows what happened to Umran Malik or Kuldeep Sen, two bowlers capable of bowling at 150KMPH. The sooner India can find replacements for the trio, the better they can compete outside of India. It is not advisable to depend on the trio alone for all the games.

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