India managed to come back and level the series with South Africa with a win at Kanpur.

Ahmedabad exposed the weakness of Indian batting against genuine seam attack - and the South Africans were lucky not to have faced any Indian pace bowler in form.

Had Ishant Sharma played at Ahmedabad, things could have been different and the Proteas would not have won so comprehensively. It was sad to see the pitch being doctored so blatantly to suit the home team in order to level the series. The Proteas had to take it and they did not whine or complain. They relied on their strengths and their pace bowlers made sure that India did not capitalise on their advantage.

'I will not give our team credit. I feel it is unfair to prepare a pitch so blatantly to negate any advantage to the visiting team'


Since the wicket was prepared to help India square the series, I will not give our team credit. I feel it is unfair to prepare a pitch so blatantly to negate any advantage to the visiting team. I wish all wickets in India were prepared to suit either side, so that bowlers do not get run down. In fact, the Chennai should be disqualified.

India should be worried about a number of things - the BCCI's greediness seems to be growing by the day. They do not seem to care about the welfare of their players. There is too much cricket and the players will burn out with this kind of scheduling. No-one seems to raise any complaints against this - the Cricket players have no choice. At least the BCCI must take efforts to build a huge talent pool from which players of high quality can be taken while others rest. India needs double the number of quality pace bowlers to keep up with the demands. MS Dhoni is going to break his back soon.

South Africa did well in this series. They came with a goal for their young team to get experience playing on the sub-continent.

The future for South Africa looks very good. Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Makhaya Ntini were impressive. Once Andre Nel returns, they will have a formidable pace attack. In my view South Africa are the real number two in Test cricket. If they can come to India and go one-up by beating the home team comprehensively, it shows their potential. India had to doctor the pitch to come back.

On a separate note, I don't know how the future of Test cricket is going to be, if IPL becomes a success. Many top international players may not show a keen interest in excelling in Test cricket. Their focus will be on early retirement and being available for a 45-day tournament. It would be prudent to make a deal with these players rather than banish them.

The BCCI needs to be dismantled and replaced with a new system that runs things professionally, providing care and attention to its players, improving standards, and setting up up an infrastructure for talent spotting.

This series stood out as a healthy and decent sporting contest, a credit to both sets of players. But in some ways it was a boring series. I was surprised to see empty seats in the stadiums. This series, like the Pakistan one last November, was hastily inserted.

This should have been a stand alone series for the year, with probably five Test matches. India should change schedule to play one home series and one away series with major teams and other one-day tournaments with other teams.

I am glad it is over.

Cricket news, Live Cricket