It has been all good for South Africa in this Test so far. Dale Steyn, no doubt, was the hero of the day. He has been the hottest property in South African cricket for two years or so. He really has the ability to bowl quick. The best thing about him is he does what fast bowlers are expected to do — take wickets up front and then wrap up the tail quickly. That is exactly what he has done. He is one of the best in business.
South African fast bowlers have been successful whenever they have toured to India. Steyn had done a fantastic job in Ahmedabad when we were there in 2008. I think it was the raw pace of Steyn which did the trick. Then and now.
From the Indian perspective, facing Steyn and Morne Morkel in tandem was different than facing the Bangladesh fast bowlers. There is a big step up in pace here. The other factor is the absence of three key batsmen. India are handicapped by the lack of experience in the middle order. It was also not easy for the young batsmen to face up to the South African pacers.
I do not think, however, that today’s performance involved a hell lot of planning from the South African management. It would by anyway difficult to plan for the young faces in the line-up. I’m also not very sure if Sachin Tendulkar’s dismissal was a trap as has been talked about. He is too great a batsman to be trapped. He is coming off from scoring two hundreds. It was a good ball that moved away. He has scored a couple of hundreds against us. I don’t see any patterns in the dismissals.
The key to success today was bowling in the right areas. Steyn and Morkel bowled fast and in the right areas. The best wicket was that of Murali Vijay’s. For me, it was a stunner. The batsman was not quite sure whether he should leave it or play it. It’s important for a bowler to create such kind of indecision. That is what Steyn is good at.
I’m not going to celebrate yet. It’s never over till it is actually over. South Africa surely are in the driver’s seat and it will be difficult for India to bounce back at this stage. But you never know.
The Kolkata Test could decide fate of the series. But I still say South Africa will go into the second Test with a lot of hope, confidence and self-belief.
—As told to Vijay Tagore
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