From heros to zeros in just three days of Test Cricket. The Indians never stood the test of character. Before we go into this, congrats to the South Africans for the way they outplayed us in every department. We were left with no margin for a comeback right from the first session. Greame Smith had told that they would go in with fresher plans for the game and it did the trick for them.

Day 1 saw the Indian Batsmen faling like the nine pins. Some of those were a beauty but mostly it was due to the shots that they played on these tracks. This again questions the ability of the Indians to adapt quickly to the tracks. Had they had that ability, they would have played better. Not that the Indian Batsmen aren’t good, but theie lack of application did cause their downfall.

After being bowled out for 20 overs on Day 1, Indians had a lot of work in their hand. Rather they let go the South Africans when they weren’t able to pick up quick wickets. The South Africans had all the time in the world to score big and thats what they did. They shouwed how to apply oneself and play on such tracks. Jacques Kallis and Ab DeVillers were outstanding.

Even in the second outing, the Indians couldn’t do much with three days of possible play. The Indians tried their best to postpone the defeat rather than to play themselves into the game. They were left gasping for air and were thoroughly outplayed. This has already left a couple of questions to the selectors asking for whether this was the best team that they could get in. Well, wasn’t this the same team that did well downunder and the first test here?

Anyways thats a different question. Here are some of the other information about this Test match which the Indians should think about :

• Giving the South Africans enough time to have a look of our bowlers
• Giving away the momentum
• Giving South Africans the much needed confidence
• It is learnt that Anil Kumble didn’t like the green top and yet decided to bat first. He did the same at Perth. But there, they were mentally prepared to take on green tops. Here they were expecting turning tracks and Batsmen friendly tracks that caused their downfall.
• The Indian attack had no teeth or bite in them.
• On Day 2, under the clod cover, the Indians started of the proceedings with their spin twins showing the Captain’s lack of confidence on seamers. Or was it the over-confidence on their ability.

Clearly Anil Kumble was made to think differently. Here are the other stats :

• This was South Africa’s highest victory margin against the Indians.
• Greame Smith has equalled Hansie Cronje’s record of 27 Test victories under his leadership.
• This is India’s third defest under 3 days against the South Africans, their 17th overall.
• The only high point for Indians was that they broke the record for the highest score in a day at Motera when they scored 328.
• Saurav Ganguly made his highest score against the South Africans when he scored 87 surpassing his 73 at Johannesburg.

Clearly Indians had nothing going their way.