Nagpur, India – Faf du Plessis spent the night before the third and final day of the third Test against India looking back as he braced himself for what he hoped would be another heroic stand in a Test match for South Africa.
To his debut century in Adelaide, and his defiant ton at the Wanderers against India two years ago, he was hoping to add a miracle in Nagpur.
“I tried to focus back on the times the team had been in trouble, and where we had to rise, stand up and fight back. But this was different to other knocks,” he admitted in the aftermath of South Africa’s 124-run defeat, which also handed India the series with a Test to spare.
In Adelaide and at the Wanderers, batsmen could still get on top of the bowling, even on day five, and force them on to the back foot, even for a brief period.
In Nagpur, South Africa found the dual task of surviving and thriving was beyond them, as it has been for India’s batsmen in the series.
“We only have ourselves to blame. When you look back to their first innings, we let them get too many runs. It was never a 220/230 wicket. And we also shouldn’t have been bowled out for 79 in our first innings,” Du Plessis pointed out.
“So you take away 50 from their total, and maybe we score another 70/80 in the first innings, and it’s closer to 150, which would have been possible to chase.
“These were tough conditions to get 300 (but) the nice thing is the guys tried and we did not just fold over.”
As a batsman, the first three matches of this series have been incredibly tough.
There is a raft of quality records among both teams; men who have taken attacks apart across the world now struggling to lay bat on ball sometimes.
With that in mind, for those new on the Test scene, the challenge has been almost impossible.
“I think this whole series has been difficult for batsmen,” Du Plessis sighed.
“Even as a senior player, I have found this to be the hardest, so it has been extremely hard for the younger guys who come into Test cricket and get judged on these conditions.
“Even AB (de Villiers) and Hash (Amla) have said these are the toughest conditions they have ever played in.”
Although the series is now lost, South Africa still have to go to Delhi, where they will look to finish the series with a win and make it 2-1, which sounds better than 2-0.
Du Plessis, one of the leaders in the playing group, admitted there had been plenty of lessons taken on the field, but also off it.
“I think we’ve learnt a lot for future planning in terms of picking a team that will be suitable for these conditions – like taking a spinner like (Ravindra) Jadeja, who can just keep bowling the same area consistently.
“India gave us very few bad balls, which is tough for a batter. (Ravichandran) Ashwin and (Amit) Mishra are big turners of the ball, so you are always under pressure,” he explained.
Du Plessis, like the rest of the South African team, was fulsome in his praise for India’s spinners being able to extract everything possible from the conditions at their disposal.
After all, it is one thing to have a sharply turning wicket, but you still have to bowl the ball in the right areas.
Captain Virat Kohli’s field placement backed up that accuracy and even in periods of pressure without any wickets, India simply dried the runs up.
Shot after fine shot went to fielders placed precisely, which can be deflating for a batsman already under the cosh.
“There is never an over with 12 or 14 runs to relieve the pressure,” said Du Plessi.
“To be fair, their spinners should be superior to us because they have grown up on these conditions.”
Those lessons, however bitter they have been, will be absorbed by South Africa.
They will hope some of those learnings sink in as quickly as Wednesday when they strap up again and put in a fresh shift in the spinning chamber.
– THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT