DOMINAnT DISPLAY:India played aggressively to put pressure on South Africa on the final day of the second Test in Kolkata.

Cricket continues to amaze. At the highest and lowest levels it remains a game played in the mind. Nor is the brain easily controlled. To the contrary it is as wilful as a sprite, constantly demanding attention, constantly darting off in various directions, always on the verge of calamity. Success goes to those blessed with the combination of talent and exceptional control of their grey matter.

Dangerous doubts

Some things never change. Teams can have a room full of positive thinkers and philosophers and still be careless or undone by doubts that emerge at the critical moment. Teams can talk and plan and discuss and still make a complete hash of things.

Although attempts are made to suborn it to reason, sport, especially cricket, is at the mercy of mood and momentum. Everything can be going quietly along and then an eruption occurs and the entire contest changes. One lapse can lead to a dozen.

In Nagpur the Indians were shaky from the outset and were not able to recover. It's not a question of determination so much as organisation. The side started the match with a head full of distractions. Morale was affected and inevitably it showed on the field. Meanwhile, South Africa arrived with firm jaws and sturdy stride.

The rest was not exactly inevitable, but it was certainly not surprising. A team that shoots itself in the foot before the match even begins can expect to hobble thereafter. In Kolkata the teams appeared to have simply switched over.

Sea change

Suddenly the hosts looked purposeful and coherent. Suddenly the visitors wore a furrowed brow. South Africa had a wonderful chance to win the match against a home outfit still missing one significant batsman and along the way suffering the loss of a member of its four-pronged attack. And it blew it.

A fruitful partnership for the second wicket between an Indian boy raised in Durban and a coloured lad nurtured in the townships outside Port Elizabeth put the visitors into an apparently unassailable position.

Of course the partnership itself was a reminder of how much the world, and so the game, has changed over the last 25 years. Not that tyranny has entirely been defeated. Indeed it still flourishes in Zimbabwe.

With the Indians apparently at their mercy, the tourists blinked. South Africa's inability to dominate opponents hints at a mental fragility absent in their walk. Champions do not relax or consolidate. They move in for the kill. Instead the South Africans blundered and in a trice had the look of the haunted.

A batting order can seem long on paper but the game is played on grass, and in the mind. Mark Boucher's ability to marshal the troops was missed. Without him the middle order went inwards in search of inspiration and returned empty-handed. Some of the players have lost faith in themselves.

A torment

Ashwell Prince and JP Duminy are suffering a fate known to all batsmen, an inexplicable desertion of form. Once so simple, the game has become a torment. Prince has been tossed around the order; Duminy's life has changed beyond recognition in a matter of months.

Cricket has pounced on their vulnerability. India's triumph lay in a refusal to lose heart that told of a proud team and unyielding leadership. After losing the toss and with South Africa in full flight they might have resigned themselves to a sorry fate.

Wheel turned

Instead they kept fighting and the wheel turned in their favour. As so often Virender Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh led the revival. It was the stuff of champions.

Source: The Hindu.