The two decisions have been called atrocious in some quarters. Only a belief that Hawkeye tells the absolute and total truth about the trajectory that a cricket ball might have taken had an impediment not been there, can invite that kind of criticism. Nobody seems to care that neither batsman offered a shot - a fact which would have been considered to be of utmost importance only 3 or 4 years ago when an LBW decision was evaluated. The LBW law has changed before our very eyes. The ball has to be deemed to go on to hit the stumps, but this judgment has traditionally been made far more generously from the bowler's point of view when the batsman does not offer a shot. With Hawkeye, this important difference is out of the window.
The Indian captain's reading of the Durban Test is remarkably careful, given that it came in a post-match presentation interview.
Dhoni: "Well of course. Especially after the first Test, we came back nicely as far as batting was concerned, but were a bit concerned about our ability to take 20 wickets. Very happy to see the bowlers bounce back here. It is very predictable for me to lose the toss. The wicket didn't misbehave on the first day, I thought 200 was a decent score. Second innings batting was disappointing, we would have liked more runs. We need to improve on that. Zaheer is the best fast bowler we have. He is very good at executing his plans, and also comes up with Plan B whenever a plan does not work. Good to have him in the side. From the end he was bowling, there was not much for the fast bowlers, so he had to bowl long spells. We will party in the night but not get drunk."The top order batting was disappointing in the second innings. Dravid in the 2nd innings and Tendulkar in the 1st fell to shots that will not measure up to their own high technical standards. Neither deserves Prem Panicker's poison pen, but Gary Kirsten will surely have a word with both of them about their front foot play. It's always fascinating to watch Tendulkar early in his innings, because he's more or less an open book compared to his colleagues in the batting order. Virender Sehwag is always murderous except for the rare occasions when he pauses to size up his prey. Rahul Dravid is always watchful, but in Dravid's case there seem to be some innings when he seems be in a hurry to get off to a start, before settling down. This has been a recent trait. VVS Laxman's approach is embodied in that enigmatic smile. The more I watch him, the more he reminds me of the one true genius in the great Australian batting line up of the 2000s - Damien Martyn. But Tendulkar will attempt certain strokes early in an innings which are not just an indicator of his mood, but of his reading of the conditions. Because Tendulkar, more than any other batsman I have seen, plays very customized innings. He doesn't have VVS's routine or Sehwag's cavalier disdain. His feature is adaptability. In this Test, I felt that his approach betrayed an uncertainty about the conditions. He seemed acutely aware of the fact that the unplayable ball might be around the corner, and hence seemed to be just a little too eager to go on the attack. I think you will see an adjustment at Cape Town.
The difference between India's batsmen and their bowlers, is that the bowlers are entirely unpredictable. S Sreesanth bowled sustained spells in the South Africa 2nd innings, but his efforts at Centurion and in the first innings Kingsmead were pure rubbish. The same is the case with Ishant Sharma, though with Ishant, you know what to expect at least to some extent - he will be unable to attack the stumps. Gary Kirsten will be praying that the 2nd innings Sreesanth shows up at Cape Town.
All in all, this was a win by a team that's used to winning - a team that, once it got ahead in the game, found just enough to stay ahead and finish the job. This was M S Dhoni's 14th Test win, making him the 2nd most successful Indian Test captain ever after Sourav Ganguly. It took Mohammad Azharuddin 47 Tests to win 14. Dhoni has won 14 out of 23, and lost only 3.
I must confess that I feel differently about this result compared to say the win at Perth in 2008 or the win at Trent Bridge in 2007. I expect this team to win Tests like these now, because they are that good. So far, they have not achieved anything on this South African tour that they hadn't before. Beating South Africa on a fast, bouncy wicket with Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel in their ranks is no mean feat. But they will have to either win or draw the Cape Town Test to reach a higher level than they already find themselves on.
The Captain has set the marker. It is up to his team to respond.