South Africa’s coach Rob Walters was at a loss of words to capture the excellence of India. “What should I say? All I can say is that this is a hell of a team. Hell of a team.” He was asked whether the pitch that offered assistance for the spinners surprised them. He thought hard and replied: “The scoreboard says it all. There are no two ways about it.”
The scoreboard, an old-fashioned manual one, read: India 326 for 5; South Africa 83. A 243-run victory in what was perceived as the biggest match of the tournament.
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Four weeks into the tournament, no box remains to be ticked; no base required to be covered, no force seemingly strong enough to stop them, no group driven enough to stall them. Their transformation was ludicrously swift and magical. A couple of months ago, even at the start of the tournament, no one expected India to be outright favourites. There were cracks and crevices, doubts about the form and fitness of individuals, suspicion of their combination.
Yet in the space of a month, they have emerged as the most rounded, ruthless, and driven side. An unbreakable winning machine, functioning by an alignment of supremely-skilled cricketers at the peak of their prowess, feeding off their own motivation as well as riding the rousing support of the home crowd.
No other Indian team has won eight games in a World Cup, let alone winning eight on the spin. No other Indian team, even the 2011, blazed the aura of fear and halo of intimidation than this team. Few other Indian teams had a readymade answer to every tricky question thrown at them. Few other teams in this edition have made winning look so effortless, or executed their plans as clinically as the merry band of Rohit Sharma.
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The punches India flung were so powerful that South Africa were knocked out several times in the Eden ring. But mercilessly, India pulled them again to feet and shower more blows on their already battered minds.
First was Rohit, who launched an unabashed assault on their new-ball pair, Lungi Ngidi and Marco Jansen. The Indian captain knew that the pitch would be difficult to bat on after the new ball loses its sheen and the spinners stride in. So Rohit threw caution to the wind, taking India to 61 runs in five overs. The onslaught was not preplanned but instinctive, he would say during the presentation. He departed, but Kohli and Gill sustained the momentum till the 10th over. Keshav Maharaj produced a ripper made in left-arm spinner’s heaven that castled Gill. The ball had begun to rip, grip and turn. But no situation flusters them.
But so experienced is the batting, so deep their understanding of the game so prepared are they with the plans that they know the right responses. So Virat Kohli dropped the anchor, sucking the blood out of South Africa’s resolve, drop by drop, leaving them lifeless. Shreyas Iyer played along, stifling his attacking impulses, but not out of fear but retreating only to leap longer and further. The early storm weathered, he became the storm himself, whipping fear and fury. The first 34 balls yielded 11 runs. In the next 53 balls, he cracked 66 on a track where Maharaj extracted staggering side-spin, where the odd ball spat viciously. Kohli would play the selfless side-kick role. He bit his ego, eschewed the big shots and calmly dragged them along.
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He would later dwell on the game-situation simulation during the nets. “We had a lot of practice sessions before the Asia Cup. In those sessions Shreyas and I invariably batted together, because we knew we were Nos 3 and 4. In the middle I told him,‘This is the partnership, this is the partnership.” This was the partnership. They added 134 runs, 51 runs more than South Africa mustered. Ravindra Jadeja’s late blitz stormed India to a total their opponent coach reckoned was “at least 70-80 runs more than we had thought.”
The chase was over before it even began. It’s now an inevitability — India’s seamers running the top-order ragged, making them see sixes and sevens. This was a batting line-up that has stacked five 350-plus totals in the previous seven games. But here, they were ruthlessly dismembered. Just 10 balls into the game, Mohammed Siraj disarrayed the stumps of the highest run-getter of the series, Quinton de Kock. His captain and opening partner, Temba Bavuma would not last long. Half an hour later, the match was effectively over, with South Africa losing the top six for 59 runs.
There is no respite, or breathing space. Threat comes in various forms. You endure the seamers, the spinners would chasten you. Sharma introduced Jadeja as early as ninth over, and by the time he was into his ninth over, he had five wickets to his name. With the ball spinning —not as much as it did in daylight —Jadeja did Jadeja things. He would land the ball on length within the stumps and spin it either way, mix the pace, shuffle the trajectories and points of release. Three of his wickets were bowleds; one was leg before the wicket. His all-rounder performance could go unnoticed and unsung, but Rohit would praise him: “Jadeja has been really good. Big match-winner. He keeps doing the job, goes under the radar but today is a classic case of what he does – score late runs and take wickets.”
Thus, from top to bottom, there are match-winners. Read aloud the margin of India’s wins —by six wickets, eight wickets, seven wickets, seven wickets, by four wickets, 100 runs, 302 runs and 243 runs. This is a team that is hitting higher notes with every game. Like Walters admitted, “a hell of a team” or a screeching unstoppable truck speeding along an expressway.
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