If the 2025 generation of Proteas want to understand the magnitude of the task that awaits them in India over the next fortnight, a quick glance at the last time SA won a Test in that country should suffice.
Hashim Amla scored a double hundred, Jacques Kallis made 173, and Dale Steyn took 10 wickets. In other words, SA’s two highest Test run-scorers and the country’s leading Test wicket-taker performed at their peak in Nagpur in 2010 to secure the Proteas victory by an innings and six runs in four days.
Historically, SA has a good record in a country the Australians used to refer to as the “final frontier”. The Proteas’ 26% winning record since the first Test tour to India in 1996 is better than Australia (20%) and England (17%). Only Pakistan, with a 33% winning record in India, are above them.
The formula for the Proteas was simple; they batted big, whether through Gary Kirsten or Daryll Cullinan in the 1990s or Kallis, Amla and AB de Villiers in the 2000s. They also backed their quick bowling in slower conditions, with greats such as Steyn, Allan Donald, Shaun Pollock and — memorably on debut in 1996 — Lance Klusener, to bother generations of Indian batting greats.
But since the second Test of the 2010 series, the Proteas, like other sides, have struggled to come to terms with conditions in India, which have heavily favoured spin.
Since Nagpur, the Proteas have lost seven of their next eight Tests in India, suffering 0-3 series defeats in the last two tours in 2015 and 2019.
“It is probably the toughest tour in the Proteas calendar, and that goes back to various generations,” said Keshav Maharaj, who was part of the squad in 2019.
“Slowly but surely we have started to conquer other regions in the subcontinent. This is a wonderful opportunity to see how far we have come.”
A formula for success in India can be found from the failures of the past two tours. Across those seven Tests, the Proteas scored just two centuries, both of which — by Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock — came in the match in Visakhapatnam in 2019. In that same series, India’s batters made seven centuries.
That was a maddening tour for SA, where the administrative incompetence at board level seeped into the national team, causing distraction that ultimately led to an enormous fallout for the sport a few months later.
This year’s Proteas squad find themselves in a very different headspace. There’s silverware in the trophy cabinet, clarity about selection and a coach who imbues his charges with confidence.
Besides Kagiso Rabada, who has a point to prove given his subpar record in India, there are no superstars in the Proteas line-up like the last time they won in India. Still, the players have shown remarkable resolve under Shukri Conrad’s stewardship.
So, while Kallis and Amla could be relied upon in 2010, the 2025 generation are comfortable sharing the load. Eight batters have made centuries this year.
“Whenever someone needs to put their hand up it’s been shared among the group, which is encouraging,” Maharaj said.
Whenever someone needs to put their hand up it’s been shared among the group, which is encouraging.
— Keshav Maharaj
India would have paid attention to SA’s last two tours to the subcontinent, where wins against Bangladesh in Dhaka in 2024 and in Rawalpindi three weeks ago against Pakistan illustrated how SA’s batters adapted well to spin-friendly conditions.
“I don’t think the wickets will be as spin-friendly as we experienced in Pakistan,” said Maharaj. “It will be good wickets that will deteriorate as the game goes on, from what we’ve seen.”
Besides, India’s 0-3 defeat to New Zealand at home, on pitches where batting was a lottery, will loom large in their memory. Yet India still have great spinners in Ravi Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav and don’t need lunar-like surfaces to be successful.
India have managed the transition from the Virat Kohli/Rohit Sharma era superbly, with new captain Shubman Gill scoring five centuries this year, while KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal have made three each.
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