- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA’S dream for their maiden Test series triumph in South Africa was shattered in the first Test in Centurion last month when they were hammered by the hosts by an innings and 32 runs. The defeat means the visitors can now only square the two-match series at best. However, going by their listless batting display in the second innings in the first Test when none barring Virat Kohli could show any resistance, not many fans would be hopeful about Rohit Sharma’s men levelling the series in the second match starting in Cape Town on Wednesday (3).
Former South Africa fast bowler Allan Donald recently spoke about India’s traditional struggle with the bat in the Rainbow Nation where they are yet to clinch a Test series. Speaking to Press Trust of India, he said only one Indian batter has played the Proteas well and that is Sachin Tendulkar.
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“Only person I know who played us well was Tendulkar, who triggered (had a trigger movement) while batting in South Africa rather than stand on middle-stump. He pressed forward and left the ball amazingly well,” Donald was quoted as saying.
Read: South Africa wallop India in 1st Test, shatter Asians’ maiden series dream on their soil
Tendulkar toured South Africa five Test tours starting 1992 and he scored five centuries in the format there. In 15 Test matches in South Africa, he has scored 1,161 runs at an average of 46.44. He also hit three half centuries and his highest score on South African soil is 169 which he made in the 1996-97 tour.
He is one of the only two batters to have scored more than 1,000 runs in South Africa in Tests — the other being England great Wally Hammond.
Advising Indian batters on how to do well in South Africa, Donald, who once had a fierce duel with Tendulkar in India-South Africa matches, said, “If you leave the ball well here, you can score runs. You got to get bowlers to come to you and search a little bit more. They start coming to you, the opportunities of scoring get better.
“It’s an interesting phenomenon as it’s tough to bat. In Cape Town though, it will be a very good Test pitch. It will flatten out quickly, so you need to work very hard,” the former cricketer, who was recently in India as the bowling coach of Bangladesh for the 50-over World Cup.
