India have clung on to the No. 1 Test ranking, with a thrilling victory over South Africa in Kolkata to level the two-Test series between the teams.
There was little more than 15 minutes of play left, and the last two South Africa batsmen were hanging on gamely, when spinner Harbhajan Singh trapped tail-ender Morne Morkel in front to end the Proteas hopes of finally taking the top Test ranking off their own bats.
Morkel had survived almost 60 deliveries and made 12 runs in what was arguably the most important innings of his career when his wicket fell, leaving Hashim Amla stranded at the non-strikers end – his stoic 127 from 394 deliveries in the end counting for nought.
There was nothing flashy about Amla’s knock in the second innings at Eden Gardens. His aim was simple as one-by-one his teammates fell around him during the final day of the match: the Proteas No. 3 just had to remain in the middle.
And that he did, absorbing everything India bowled at him, refusing to relinquish his wicket for the second time this series. The first was his man-of-the-match 253 not out in Nagpur, Amla’s highest Test score and the innings around which South Africa built what proved to be a match-winning 558-run total.
And that was not just Amla’s best Test score either. That was also the highest Test score made by a South Africa batsman against India and the 340-run partnership between Amla and Jacques Kallis (173) in the first Test was the highest third-wicket partnership in India.
He followed that with 114 in the first innings in Kolkata, another top-score for his team, and another occasion where very few of his teammates made a meaningful contribution to the total. This time opener Alviro Petersen chipped in with a ton of his own, but there was precious little batting support on offer after that.
In the second innings, survival was as important as runs, with a draw all that was required of Graeme Smith’s side to reclaim the No. 1 Test ranking. But only one South Africa batsman managed to produce the combination, and that was the 28-year-old right-hander.
Had Morkel managed to remain at the crease with Amla for another quarter of an hour, the latter would have been hailed as the hero of a momentous series victory for the Proteas. A series win that would have promoted them to the top of the Test rankings, and completed the trifecta of Test series victories in England, Australia and the subcontinent. But it was not to be.
Amla will be remembered for his man of the match and man of the series performance, but it will be Harbhajan who is feted as the man who sealed victory in Kolkata and with it the No. 1 Test ranking for his team. The spinner not only took the final wicket for India, but was their best performed bowler in the second innings, taking 5-59 from his 48.3 overs.
This after what was a largely ineffective performance in the first Test in Nagpur, where Harbhajan failed to apply the pressure to the South Africa batsmen that Proteas’ slow bowler Paul Harris did to India.
Amla might have won the individual honours, but as he trudged off the ground at Eden Gardens you can bet he’d have swapped all that to be celebrating victory with his teammates, as Harbhajan was out in the middle.
To the victor go the spoils.
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