India fights best when it’s hurt

India had prepared,of course,at Claremont Cricket Club in Cape Town where Gary Kirsten hopes,one day,to build his own academy. His wife,Deborah,was there one day taking photographs of Sachin Tendulkar and the boys training in the shadow of Table Mountain. She confirmed that her husband was a ‘tangle of emotions’ about the job. Desperate to spend more time with his family but unable to cut the deep,emotional ties he has formed with the team and the individual players. He is convinced the spirit is there in the squad to create history and win in South Africa for the first time.

First-time media visitors to Supersport Park,Centurion,are stunned by the fare on offer at lunch and tea. A full buffet,hot and cold,which would grace the finest five-star hotels. My colleague writing on this page can hardly contain his enthusiasm and happily skips the modest breakfast at his budget hotel in Johannesburg to take full advantage of the seafood,hot roasts,cold meats and salads – not to mention the chocolate cakes in mid afternoon. The food is famous at the ground and provides some consolation to the hacks who have to write about yet another feeble batting display against good fast bowling on a seaming pitch.

Durban used to be India’s cricketing graveyard and the scene of some of its most embarrassing performances. There used to be a theory that the hospitality lavished on the tourists by the three-million-strong Indian population was one of the reasons for their ineptitude on the field but,as usual,rumours of constant partying and eager women were much exaggerated.

South Africa’s Achilles heel in Durban in the past has been a tendency to feel like they are playing an “away” match (especially against India!) but also a belief that all they have to do is turn up and bowl bouncers in order to win. Once again they were over confident and contributed to their own demise.

My old friend,Paddy Upton,explains his theory about the Indian psyche to me before the game starts. “India has never waged war outside its own borders and has never instigated a conflict. But some of the swiftest and most brutal manoeuvres in military history have been carried out by the Indian army — always in retaliation.”

What has this got to do with the cricket team’s ability to play the short ball,I ask.“They need to be beaten first before they play at their best. It’s part of the collective Indian DNA. I don’t understand why,but I know it’s there. You watch — they will come out fighting like you have never seen before. It will be different this time.”

I tell him that he must have been eating vegetarian food for too long,or smoking something. It seems impossible to imagine after such a beating in the first Test. Five days later,we meet again in a lounge at King Shaka airport,waiting to move to Cape Town. He merely smiles. He doesn’t need to say anything.

And here we are,in the shadow of Table Mountain at leafy Newlands. The game is in the balance at tea on the third day. There has been some devastating cricket played by both sides already — and some long passages of play during which nothing much has happened.

The desire to win,however,and clinch the series,is so strong on both sides that I swear you can feel it — really feel it — through the glass which makes the press box feel like a goldfish bowl. Gary told his team they would be regarded as one of the best Indian teams of all time if they won here. The Proteas believe they can start a journey to dislodge India from the number one spot if they can win this series. It has been one of the most compelling series in this country in the last 20 years. All the more shame,then,that it is only three Tests. n