South Africa vs India 2018: 5 positives for India from this tour

The epic clash between South Africa and India was the most anticipated series in 2018. After performing exceptionally well in the home season, a lot of people believed that Virat Kohli and co would create history on the African tour.

The whole tour as expected turned out to be very competitive as Proteas clinched the Test series while the Indian team showed a lot of character winning their last Test in Johannesburg.

India had lost the Test series by 2-1 and faced a lot of criticism but with ODI and T20 series win, it proved to be a successful tour.

As the African safari has finally ended, let us find out the biggest positives for team India from this tour.

#5 Comeback of Suresh Raina

The main highlight of the T20 series was the comeback of Suresh Raina in the international arena. Before coming back into this Indian team, Raina had scored 314 runs in 9 matches with 2 fifties and one brilliant century.

Raina played well in the series and scored 89 runs in 3 matches. He dint scored many runs but made a huge impact in the batting powerplay. In fact, he was Man of the Match in decider match for his brilliant 43 and took an important of David Miller.

After a good performance in the series, Indian fans will be hoping that Raina makes a comeback in the ODI team also and give more stability to the middle order.

#4 Strong bench strength

India is one of the strongest teams in the world in all three formats. The reason behind this success is their solid bench strength. India has backup players for every department whether it is batting, keeping, spin bowling or fast bowling.

The current ODI team does not include the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who are the best spinners in world cricket. Senior batsmen like Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh are also not part of this team and still, India is the number one side in ODI format.

When it comes to Test cricket, this team has produced 5-6 good quality, fast bowlers. There are 3 openers in the squad and lots of back up batsmen are there for the middle order.

The bench strength of this team does not allow any player to get complacent, which makes the team a very competitive side.

#3 Wrist spinners magic

Before the ODI series against South Africa, Yuzvendra Chahal and Kuldeep Yadav had performed exceptionally well in the year 2017. The big question was would these wrist spinners deliver the goods on foreign soils?

When India toured South Africa in 2013-14, both spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Jadeja took only 2 wickets in 3 ODI matches. But Kuldeep and Chahal completely bamboozled Proteas batsmen picking up 33 wickets together.

It proved that these wrist spinners do not need any assistance from pitches and can perform in any foreign conditions.

#2 The rise of the fast bowlers

India had lost the Test series, but the biggest positive from this series was bowlers taking 20 wickets in all three Tests. In the past, India had struggled in the overseas tour as bowlers lacked the consistency to take 20 wickets.

Especially the fast bowlers were most impressive taking 50 wickets out of total 60. Mohammed Shami was the most successful bowler for India and took 15 wickets in 3 Tests.

Surprisingly the rise of Jasprit Bumrah in whites was the most promising as he finished with 14 wickets. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma were also impressive and took wickets in crucial situations.

#1 Captain leading from the front

This was the biggest tour for Virat Kohli as a captain and batsmen as well. At the end of the tour, Kohli batted exceptionally and led from the front with his performance.

In Test series, Kohli was the top scorer with 286 runs in 3 Tests with 1 century and 1 fifty. In ODIs, he scored 558 runs with 3 centuries and 1 fifty. He was also awarded Man of the series for his brilliant performance in ODI series.

As a captain, he did well and was proactive throughout the tour. After a spirited performance in the Test series, Kohli led India to a historic ODI series win and also won the T20 series.

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