'Only Person I Know Who Played Us Well Was Sachin Tendulkar': Allan Donald On India's Batting Struggles In South Africa

To call India’s batting performance in the second innings of the first Test against South Africa a collapse would be an understatement.

Following a masterclass in Test batting by Dean Elgar, who scored a knock for the ages, slashing and cutting his way to 185 runs against India’s pacers, and young Marco Jansen’s fiery blitzkrieg of 87*, India’s batting order crumbled under the pressure of the South African pacers for a mere dismal total of 131, handing South Africa the win by an innings and 32 runs.

Talisman batter Virat Kohli was the only one who put up a fight in the second innings, salvaging a hard-earned 76 runs, as the rest of the lineup, except for Shubman Gill, were dismissed for single-digit scores.

India, as a batting unit, haven’t had a lot of success in the ‘Rainbow Nation’ but South African legend Allan Border mentioned that Sachin Tendulkar is  one batter, who has scored four Test centuries in five tours to the country.

“It’s not an easy place to combat. We see that daily in South Africa, the ball does nip around more than it does in Australia or England. If your footwork isn’t 100 percent then you are in trouble,” Donald cited.

Then, Border explained why Tendulkar was a huge success individually, despite all the challenged he faced.

“Only person I know who played us well was Tendulkar, who triggered (had a trigger movement) while batting in South Africa rather than stand on middle-stump. He pressed forward and left the ball amazingly well,” Donald explained.

Tendulkar is among the only two batters to score over a thousand Test runs in South Africa, notching up a massive 1161 runs, which consisted of 5 centuries and three fifties, in just 15 Tests, to become the second-highest run-scorer in the Rainbow Nation.

So, for the new-age Indian batters coming in to play the second Test against South Africa, Border has a word of advice.

“If you leave the ball well here, you can score runs. You got to get bowlers to come to you and search a little bit more. They start coming to you, the opportunities of scoring get better.

It’s an interesting phenomenon as it’s tough to bat. In Cape Town though, it will be a very good Test pitch. It will flatten out quickly, so you need to work very hard,” stated Border.

The second Test between India and South Africa will begin on January 3 in Johannesburg.