When is a Test match not, in fact, a Test match at all?
This seems like a bizarre question to be asking immediately after what is being hailed as one of the greatest contests of all time, but once the dust has settled, the emotions been reined in, the analysis done and the heartbeat returned to normal, everyone who was at the Wanderers on Sunday – and millions more who watched on television – will realise that they had not been entertained.
When South Africa played Australia at the famous one-day international at the same venue, and scorched their way to 438 for nine from 49.5 overs after Ricky Ponting’s coruscating 164 had set a target of 435, that was entertainment.
What happened at the Wanderers over five days, and in sharp focus on the final day of the first India-South Africa Test of 2013 was much more than entertainment, it was education.
For anyone who had any interest in cricket, and the patience to watch the game with open eyes and ears, setting aside preconceived notions, it was a masterclass of cricket instruction crammed into a working week.
Let’s begin, at the end, with lesson No 1: Everything is not as it seems
With three overs left to be bowled South Africa needed 16, with three wickets in hand.
India, conscious that a smear, a top edge and a smack from either Vernon Philander or Dale Steyn, both capable, kept the ball short and wide. South Africa, in the knowledge that Morne Morkel was a hobbler at best, and Imran Tahir not even that, shut shop and played for the draw.
The crowd let South Africa know exactly what they thought of this move, boos ringing around the ground. To say India were right, or South Africa were wrong, is to miss the point, not all questions have only two right answers.
Lesson No 2: Even when all results are possible, some are more desirable
India dominated the first Test for the best part of four days, barring one major partnership in each innings. India’s batsmen, in whose eyes Steyn said he had seen fear during the ODIs, ensured that the most feared bowler in the attack registered the worst figures of his 68-Test career. India’s seam and swing bowlers easily outshone their more experienced, and celebrated, counterparts, and the batting fired again, daring South Africa to chase the biggest target ever.
And yet, in the final moments, Mohammed Shami and Zaheer Khan bowled short and wide to the tail. If India had gone for glory, and lost, having been ahead for most of the game, what would have been left to play for at Durban?
Lesson No 3: Maximum effort is the bare minimum, but may not be enough, too
Looking at the scorecard for the Test match, it will certainly be noticed that Ravichandran Ashwin went the whole of the final day without picking up a single wicket.
But the scorecard will not tell you that Ashwin’s primary role was to ensure that the game did not get away from India. His 36 overs cost only 83 runs, an economy rate of 2.3 in an innings when the team scored at 3.3.
Ask Dhoni and he will tell you that Ashwin did all that was asked of him, giving the quick men breaks and a chance for aching muscles to come back for another big effort.
Lesson No 4: Captaincy is easiest done after the event
When you’re sitting 400 yards away at a press box or commentary box, or thousands of miles away in your living room, hundreds of questions spring to mind in every passage of play. For instance, why was Shami not brought on earlier, after the tea break?
Throughout his career, Dhoni has been criticised for being too defensive, for not going for every individual Test match win when he could. Sometimes, with the series decided, or with a risk of losing looming, he would shut shop early.
Wellington in 2009, Dominica in 2011 and perhaps Lord’s in 2011 are three obvious examples of this. On the day, Dhoni was spot on with every call. He resisted the temptation to settle for the draw as long as possible, and yet was smart enough to not throw it away.
Lesson No 5: You don’t always get what you want, and that’s not a bad thing
When both teams walk away from an epic match knowing that they did all they could, that mistakes were made but none big enough to alter the course of the game, and yet both were denied the taste of victory, something must be wrong with the universe, right? Far from it.
India learnt that all the talk of inexperience was only talk.
South Africa learnt that even at home there were going to be days when they would have to fight just to stay in the game.
For those who watched the game, the exercise was a challenge. It was an experience in which you were forced to embrace the possibility of history being made, and yet were being asked to suppress your most natural instincts. There reached a point where the game ceased to be about winning or losing.
If you can take that lesson from cricket, you probably did not miss a thing.
Anand Vasu is managing editor at Wisden India
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