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India are motoring their way to a maiden bilateral ODI series win in South Africa while their hosts are coughing and sputtering. For the briefest of moments on Wednesday (February 7) in Cape Town, it looked like South Africa could make a fist of things when JP Duminy and Aiden Markram put on 78 in 15 overs for the second wicket. And then, off the first ball he faced from Kuldeep Yadav's spell, Markram failed to pick the googly, walked down the pitch and was stumped. 100 runs later, South Africa were all-out with Kuldeep and Yuzvendra Chahal taking four wickets apiece to take their combined series tally to 21 wickets at 9.05 and an economy of 3.63.
At the end of the third ODI, the two spinners left even captain Virat Kohli amazed by their effectiveness. "I don't have words to explain this," Kohli said. "It's outstanding to see two guys just totally spinning a web around the opposition. There doesn't seem to be a way out at all. It's unbelievable. Credit to them. Both have been working hard on their game. Both are very brave in terms of how they bowl and the kind of fields they want as well. They are very brave tossing the ball and asking the batsman to come out and play a risky shot. Hats off to them but the other debate is a bit away from now. You never know what happens in the future but I am really happy at the moment."
Delving into the specifics of their success, the Indian captain suggested that the experience of significantly flatter batting wickets at home has allowed them to hone their skills to a point where they were now ready to take advantage of making most of the extra bounce and surprising turn available on the South African tracks. "We knew they will pick up wickets. Because wrist spinners, these guys have bowled in flatter batting tracks at home. Some might think they have bowled in T20 cricket when the conditions are very, very difficult and they have picked up wickets on a regular basis you know.
"Here they felt even better because they were getting bounce, on some pitches like today, it got really slow at the end so they were getting turn as well. They feel at the top of their game when they have the pitches supporting them even a little bit. But they are very brave and even on flatter pitches, wrist spinners will also come into play and they have made that difference in the game. They might go for 6 an over, we knew that but they will pick up 3-4 wickets between them. They have done outstandingly well in the last two games picking up a majority of the wickets in both games and being the difference between both sides."
Both Chahal and Kuldeep have stated that their effectiveness stems from having received a univocal brief to attack at all times, even at the risk of going for boundaries. This in turn has allowed them to toss another ball up, slower if possible, despite getting hit off the previous. This has enabled them to continuously elicit mishits.
"The thing is very simple. They are told to go for wickets at all times. When you are going for wickets you are bowling in areas that are uncomfortable for the batsmen and more often than not they end up defending. When you bowl wide and try to save runs then you give an opportunity to take singles also. So I think all the credit has to go to them because they've executed those lines and lengths perfectly," Kohli said.
"They've always, every over they've asked two-three questions of the batsmen, that is something outstanding. I haven't seen that before. Every over they might pick up two wickets, that is the kind of belief they have in their abilities and the team has a belief in them, the team is backing them. They might get hit for 70-odd in the next game. But there is no problem in that because you know that if they bowl attacking lines then they will end up picking 2-3 wickets every game. Going ahead in these conditions now, and we are going to play the World Cup away from home, that I think is going to be the massive factor for us."
Having gone three-nil up, India cannot lose the six-match series here on but the Indian captain asked his side to keep the foot on the opposition throat, calling on his men to find a way to increase their match intensity for the remainder of the series. "There are still three games to go in the series. We just want to play the way we have played till now. Maybe have more intensity in the next game to close the series out. The biggest positive out of today, with 3-0 up, is that there is no way we can lose the series now. That is certainly something that lifts the team even more. As I said we will have more intensity and more passion when we step out for the fourth game. Six games is too far fetched. We want to focus on one game at a time. Make sure that we do these things consistently to be in a position to win a game."
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