When India tours to South Africa this time, Virat and his men look to end the drought of winning the Test series on South African soil, India has been touring South Africa since 1992. Yet, the men in blue have not won a single Test series on South African soil. Overall, India and South Rica have played 20 matches in the Proteas nation. South Africa has won 10 of them, and seven matches have been ended in a draw, while India has just three Test wins to their name in South Africa.
India’s Tour to South Africa will start with the Test matches on Sunday 26th December 2021. India under Virat Kohli and new coach Rahul Dravid will look to make a men’s mark on this. Virat and co had toured earlier to South Africa. But they lost the first two test matches and the series badly to the home team. Under Virat Kohli, India did win the ODI and T20I series. But losing the Test series still haunts the Indian Team.
So far, there are only three Indians Captains who have won the Test match in South Africa. Before India leaves the Proteas nation, we shall name the three Indian skippers who have created a piece of history in the Test cricket format for India. The SENA countries have not whitewashed team India under Virat Kohli. India has at least one win under its belt.
Rahul Dravid
The current Indian coach was the first-ever Indian captain who won a Test match in South Africa. India went to South Africa earlier, but they failed to win a match on the Proteas soil. Rahul Dravid was India’s successful captain. Under his leadership, India won the series in England, West Indies, Pakistan, and Team India also scripted their first-ever win in South Africa. In 2006 at Johannesburg, Team India under Rahul Dravid‘s leadership won the match by 123 runs.
India got better of the home team in that Test match which was the first test of that South African tour. S Sreesanth was the star of that match. The pace bowler from Kerala bagged eight wickets in that Test win. In the 1st innings, Sree took a five-wicket haul. He took five wickets for just 40 runs, and in the second innings, he took three wickets for 59 runs, which allowed India to bundle out the hosts for just 84 runs in their first innings. But India batted first in that match, and the visitors could reach 249 runs mainly because of Sourav Ganguly’s 51 not-out runs. The other Indian batters struggled against the pace bowlers of The Proteas team. Shaun Pollack and Makhaya Ntini ripped the Indian batters apart with a brilliant spell. But that didn’t help South Africa is making a comeback. Sreesanth again chipped in with three wickets in the second innings of South Africa. The Proteas team continued to lose wickets to Zaheer and Kumble also. Ashwell Prince scored 97 runs from 223 balls. Still, that wasn’t enough for South Africa to win the first Test match at the Wanders Stadiums in Johannesburg. India asked the home team to chase a target of 402 runs which they failed to do.
Now the Wanders Stadium has been India’s fortress in South Africa. The Indian Team has not lost any games whenever they have played at this venue. India won in 2006 and 2018.
MS Dhoni
India’s most successful captain and the wicket-keeper batting legend, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, is just the second Indian captain to win a Test match in South Africa. This win came in 2011, just before the ICC World Cup, which India won at home, and the 2011 tour was the only instance where India didn’t lose the Test series as the three-match Test series was drawn to one all.
Kingsmead Durban was where India won their second Test match in South Africa. India batted first, and they were blown away for just 205 runs in their 1st innings. Dale Steyn took six-wicket to his name, while Dhoni and VVS Laxman were the only Indian batters who scored more than 30 runs. But India came back strongly in the test match and dismissed the home side for just 131 runs. Zaheer Khan took three wickets while the terminator Harbhajan Singh picked up four wickets to his name, and that helped the Indian Team run through the middle order of South Africa in quick succession.
Despite the advantage gained through the bowlers, the batters failed to rise for India. VVS Laxman played a very special knock of 96 runs which kept India in the hunt, and he was supported well by the tailender batsman Zaheer Khan. India went past the 200 run mark because of Lexi and Zak, which helped India to set a target of 303 runs. South Africa couldn’t chase that target, and they were bundled out for just 215 runs. Sreesanth and Harbhajan Singh were too good in front of the Proteas batters, allowing India’s famous win on South African soil.
Virat Kohli
The last captain to win a Test match on South African soil is Virat Kohli. He achieved this feat when India toured the Proteas Nation in the 2017 and 2018 series, and during that tour, India also won the T20Is and ODI series. India lost the first two Test matches very badly, and it looked like the home side would whitewash India at their favorite venue, The Wanders Stadium in Johannesburg. The Wanders Stadium is the only venue where India has maintained their winning form in South Africa, and they kept their winning steak at this venue by winning the last Test match of the 2018 tour.
India won this Test match mainly because of Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, and Bhuvneshar Kumar, who have not been added to the current tour of South Africa. India scored just 187 runs in the first innings. Virat and Pujara scored their half-centuries. But the rest of the batters struggled to cope with the Proteas bowlers. Jasprit Bumrah kept India in the game with his maiden five-wicket haul, while Bhuvi picked up three wickets to his name. India successfully bundled out the home team for just 194 runs.
The visitors batted decently in the second innings. They scored 247 runs with the help of Virat Kohli’s 41 runs, Ajinkya Rahane‘s 48 runs, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s 33 runs allowed Team India to set a score of 241 runs for South Africa to win this match and the series by a margin of 3-0.
But nothing fell in the place for the home side as the visitor’s bowlers started striking from the first over. Shami gave India the perfect start when he dismissed Markram for four runs. Elgar and Amla shared a much-needed partnership for South Africa. But once that stand was broken, it was a possession of wickets that helped India be in the game. Elgar held the one end up, but no one from the SA team was to support. Apart from Elgar’s 86 runs, and Hashim Amla’s 52 runs, the rest of the South African batters were undone by the Indian bowlers. The hosts were
blown away for just 177 runs in their second innings, which allowed India to win their 3rd match on South Africa soil. India won this game by 63 runs.
