Watch Dale Steyn rip India apart at Nagpur in 2010 (will there be a reprise starting Wednesday?)
Nagpur is a word that Team India fears when it hears it together with Dale Steyn.
Rewind to 2010. In the first Test at Nagpur, South Africa batted first and put up an imposing 558/6 declared. And when it was India’s turn to bat, they had the misfortune of coming up against Dale Steyn at his furious, marauding best, as the video above shows.
On a pitch that was not even supposed to aid him, Steyn made the ball reverse-swing at jaw-dropping pace, picking up a career best 7/51. The nature of the dismissals reveals the kind of form he was in – four out of the seven dismissals were bowled with the Indian batsmen beaten by pace and swing.
To Tendulkar, Steyn delivered an absolute peach, swinging away at the very last moment to get a nick. It was perhaps the best display of fast bowling ever seen in India.
Plagued by injuries to their two key pacemen Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander, South Africa have not played up to their usual high standards. But though Philander has been ruled out of the series with an ankle injury, the Proteas might be a little more emboldened at the prospect of playing in Nagpur.
Because Steyn may be back. The Test Match – and the test for India – starts tomorrow, Wednesday.