With Australia dominating cricket in recent years, the battle for the No. 2 spot has been as hard fought as ever. This time it comes down to the battle between India and South Africa. To determine who is going to win there’s not much else we can do but look at Cricket’s best friend - statistics.

India instantly hold an advantage here just by being the hosts of this series. They’re traditionally hard to beat on their home patch for a whole variety of reasons, although the Indian Premier League could help some of the South Africans get used to the conditions.

Prior to their Test series against the Australians, India had won three straight series - Pakistan at home and Bangladesh and England away. The interesting thing about this is that their last defeat prior to that series was against South Africa in South Africa in the 2006-7 season.

'South Africa have just lost Shaun Pollock and India have come out of the tour in Australia with some measurable success'


South Africa’s current streak stands at six straight series victories (Bangladesh away, West Indies home, New Zealand home, Pakistan away and India home) last losing to Sri Lanka in 2006. The last time these two nations played a series in India was a 1-0 victory to the hosts.

Another good comparison would be the results against the Australians. In 2005-2006 South Africa played Australia six times (three each home and away) and lost five, only managing a draw in one test. The third test of the Australian series and the first test of the South African series were particularly convincing victories for Australia, winning by eight and seven wickets respectively.

India, meanwhile, faired much better, in a strictly away series of four matches. After losing to Australia heavily in the first test, they lost controversially in the second and won the third, with a draw in the fourth, meaning a two-one series defeat. It is clear that the Indians hold the upper hand here.

So what do we make of all this? South Africa are on a better streak and won the last series between the two, but India do better against the best in the world and have a very strong home record.

In the end all it proves is that this is one heck of a tight series and it’s going to be very hard to call. Looking outside of statistics it appears that there is a clear advantage with India. South Africa have just lost Shaun Pollock and India have come out of the tour in Australia with some measurable success.

Despite not winning the test series they did win the one day series. Despite South Africa’s form looking good on paper, in reality it probably isn’t that fantastic. There were moments in the series against Bangladesh when the watching public might have thought that another upset was on gthe cards. But they do have this ability to work their way out of a trouble, interestingly a trait the Australians also have.

It’s anyone’s guess how this series will go. India are going to be hard to beat at home, but it’s definitely going to be a close one!