india vs south africa

When India touched down at Oliver Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg before their three-match Test series against South Africa, the leading voices and scribes in the game were getting ready to proclaim this the best team since the famous West Indian side of the 1970s. A month on from that Virat Kohli has resigned after India failed to beat South Africa in the Rainbow Nation, meaning that they are yet to win a Test series in South Africa in their history. Safe to say, things once again didn’t go according to plan for India in South Africa.

india vs south africa ODI
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It’s a strange phenomenon when you consider that other Indian sportsmen have enjoyed tremendous success in South Africa. Indeed, cast your minds back to golfer Shubhankar Sharma’s sensational win at the Joburg Open in 2017 and how that helped break the hoodoo for the cricketers by showing it can be done. With that said, perhaps it’s been an underwhelming few free years for both if you look at the live golf odds from Betfair as you’ll see Sharma at 300/1 to win the Abu Dhabi Championship.

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Alas, the best free golf betting tips predict little in the way of success for Sharma in 2022, but the point still stands. He has won a huge event under South African skies and set an example.

The last point on Sharma and his win in December 2017, when you think back to the timing, it could hardly have been better in terms of inspiration as India began their Test series against South Africa only a few weeks later. However, they would lose 2-1 before returning in December 2021 to suffer the same result. So, why can’t this team which won away in England and Australia achieve Test success on the tip of the African continent?

The go-to argument would be that India struggles against a seaming pitch that produces a lot of bounce, but then how much water does that hold after they won in Australia, a country that historically prepares similar wickets to their southern hemisphere neighbors? Granted, South Africa is statistically the hardest place in the world to open the batting given the early movement of the pitch, but openers KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal looked comfortable during the first Test when India won at the Wanderers. No, you would have to say that the openers held their own whilst the middle order collapsed on this tour, which is probably the biggest reason for India’s 2021/2022 failure in SA.

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That collapse was probably down to the pressure of winning in South Africa for the first time with every player desperate to make history but as so often happens in cricket, the demons in the pitch aren’t nearly as harmful as the demons in a batsman’s head. Indeed, with so much on the line, players need a rock-solid temperament to negotiate the intense heat that comes with trying to win in South Africa as any mistake will be pounced upon by the home side as the visitors wilt under the African sun.

india vs south africa
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In essence, we can conclude that a brittle batting lineup coupled with a nervous disposition brought on by unrelenting pressure cost India the chance to win a Test series in South Africa for the first time.

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