On This Day in 2015: India end South Africa’s unbeaten away Test series streak
South Africa had expectations of their first Test series win in 15 years on Indian soil when they made an all-format tour of India in 2015. The Proteas won the T20I series by 2-0 margin and clinched the ODI series 3-2 before the 4-match Test series which was named Freedom Trophy. South Africa had settled with a drawn series in 2008 and 2010 tours of India despite going 1-0 up on both occasions.
South Africa had not lost any of their last 15 Test series played away from home before the 4-match series in India. The streak began after their series defeat in Sri Lanka during the 2006 tour. In the next nine years, South Africa won ten of the 15 away Test series they played while the rest ended in a draw. In fact, they lost only two Test series in those nine years; both against Australia at home (in 2009 and in 2014).
The series begins
The first game of the 4-match Freedom Trophy was hosted by the PCA Stadium in Mohali. The hosts won the toss and elected to bat first on a pitch that had turn from the very first day. The game turned out to be a low-scoring one as no side managed to score more than 201 in any of the four innings. India won the game by 108 runs banking on Ravindra Jadeja’s all-round performance. The 2nd Test hosted by Bangalore was marked to be AB de Villiers’ 100th Test but the game ended in a draw as only 81 overs of play was possible.
Clinching the series
The 3rd Test was hosted by the VCA Stadium in Nagpur where the pitch was expected to turn more than it did in Mohali. India elected to bat first after winning the toss but could only make 212 before getting bowled out on the first day itself. The visitors ended the day at the score of 11/2 with opener Dean Elgar and skipper Hashim Amla being the batsmen at the crease. Interestingly, Elgar and Amla were the unbeaten batsmen at the end of 2nd day as a total of 20 wickets went down through the day’s play.
Fast forward to 2015, South Africa were touring India for a four test series. The proteas were rolled over in Mohali and Nagpur, where they were 12-5 at one stage. Rain came to their rescue in Bangalore. Down 0-2 in the series, the action shifted to the capital city. pic.twitter.com/DfmpeXStzK
— North Stand Gang – Wankhede (@NorthStandGang) December 7, 2019
South African fell to the spin web of Ashwin and Jadeja who picked nine wickets between them. The Proteas, at one stage, lost five wickets for 12 runs on the board but managed to reach at least 79 as JP Duminy made 35 which is almost 40% of the team’s tally. South Africa’s total of 79 was their lowest since readmission to cricket and also the lowest for any team against India in the longer format. India, in the second essay, played slightly aggressive as they reached 97/2 but were down to 128/7 losing five wickets for 31 runs.
Rohit Sharma added key runs with the tail as India ended up with 173 and set a target of 310 for the hosts. Ravichandran Ashwin was lethal with the ball as he and Amit Mishra took all the ten wickets to fall in South Africa’s second innings. The visitors were bowled out shortly after the Tea break on the 3rd day. Ashwin took 12 wickets in the match as he picked seven wickets in the second essay. Thus, India took a series-winning lead of 2-0 and put an end to South Africa’s unbeaten streak in away Test series.
