“At 12/3, I didn’t know how we were going to score runs on that pitch. I wanted to take an Uber and leave for the hotel,” said Dale Benkenstein, South African batting coach, after a hectic first day’s play of the first Test against India at Newlands.
Of course, he couldn’t book a cab and just leave. As per ICC rules, all playing members and support staff submit their mobile phones before entering the dressing room. Yet, this regulation wasn’t the only thing keeping Benkenstein at his seat. It was simple knowledge that a certain AB de Villiers was still out in the middle.
On day one morning, when Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled the first two deliveries down leg, the camera panned to the South African dressing room. De Villiers was all padded up but seemed to be in a relaxed mood. Despite the pitch, he didn’t expect to walk in so quickly. Sixteen balls later, he did – Kumar had removed both Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram.
As De Villiers watched from the non-striker’s end, the pacer also got rid of Hashim Amla. It was great bowling – a clever mix of outswingers and inswingers, befuddling the batsmen as to how the ball would shape up next. At that point in time, standing at the other end seemed to be the best option.
Then of course, de Villiers was joined in by Faf du Plessis. This decision to bat first on a tough pitch was on him. Yet, the skipper is known for digging in when his team needs the most. He can simply stonewall his way session after session until the sun beats down and eases the pitch or the opposition gives up and goes home. The only difference to umpteen occasions he had done so in the past was Kumar and the ease with which he was moving the ball on a string.
Taking centre-stage
This is where the world’s best batsman took centre-stage. In the ninth over of the innings, Kumar started with a wide away-swinger. De Villiers reached for it and drove through cover point for four. “I have got him to come forward and drive the moving ball,” is probably what Kumar would have thought at that point.
Bang. The next ball – a poor half volley – was smashed through cover. A ball later, again, bang. It was a length delivery but the batsman moved quickly and slashed it over gully for a third boundary. Bang, the very next ball, another wide delivery outside off and just like that De Villiers had taken 16 runs off five balls.
“He simply counter-attacked the bowling,” said Kumar after the day’s play. “He is the best in the business and to bowl at him you have to be at your best as well.”
It was a strange admission. Right until that over, his figures had read 4-1-7-3. By any stretch of imagination, any swing bowler worth his salt would deem it as one of his best spells, if not the best. The prospect of facing up to de Villiers, though, lessens this thought of self worth and Kumar isn’t the first one to suffer this complex.
In turn, this underlines the grandeur of AB de Villiers’s magical prowess. Sure, Steve Smith and Virat Kohli are plundering runs in every part of the world (never mind Kohli’s poor dismissal to Morne Morkel late in the day), contending for the tag of the best batsman in world cricket. Somewhere in there, Joe Root and Kane Williamson will also put up their hands. None of them, though, unquestionably match up to De Villiers’ aura.
On a pitch where the ball was darting off the seam, he found it in himself to attack that same bowler who was threatening to trigger a South African collapse. There wasn’t audacity in his strokes, no. Instead, it was in mindset that he must take on the bowling and catch them off guard. How many sane batsmen would want to counter when the scoreboard reads 15/3 after eight overs? Further still, on that pitch, how many even can?
Perhaps it was the solidity of Du Plessis at the other end that allowed De Villiers to entertain this thought. Even so, it cannot be denied that he single-handedly pushed India onto the back-foot, never mind that South Africa were struggling themselves. It pushed Kumar to alter his length, creating enough doubt in his mind if he was doing the right thing by attacking this pair.
Changed the game
It induced a bowling change from Kohli too. Mohammed Shami was well and truly off-colour and when Jasprit Bumrah came on to bowl, he was taken for runs. In fact, that over set the tone for how South Africa approached the remainder of their first innings.
From Quinton de Kock, to Vernon Philander, and to Keshav Maharaj, they realised the value of scoring quick runs because staying long at the wicket was not guaranteed. In turn, India’s pacers were so thrown off by the pace of scoring that they unwittingly bowled short to the lower middle-order, thinking it was a good plan.
“I wouldn’t say, just yet, that he changed the game,” said Benkenstein. “But that one over changed the momentum of the innings, such was the class and genius of AB de Villiers. It is not something you can teach as a batting coach and it certainly brought belief back into the dressing room.”
His words make for some wonderment. Two out of the three Indian wickets to fall – Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan – were expansive strokes that shouldn’t have been played. Was it a case of following a set template in looking to score freely on a tough pitch? If this is indeed the Indian team’s plan going forward, then assistant coach Sanjay Bangar has his task cut out.
Against the relentless South African pace battery, India’s remaining batsmen will need a lot of chutzpah to deliver a similar counter-attacking punch on day two. Mind you, none of them are AB de Villiers.