IND vs SA Women’s Test: When Chepauk proved that resilience needs support too

South Africa’s gritty defiance in the face of a humbling loss against India might have earned the side respect and a place in history but will it change its destiny in red-ball cricket back home?

In the history of Tests for women, South Africa has only played 15 to India’s 41, of which three have just happened in the last two years after an eight-year red-ball hiatus. | Photo Credit: Sportzpics for BCCI

South African skipper Laura Wolvaardt often slips into a one-liner when she tries to explain a game’s complexities: “Cricket’s a funny game.” It truly is. 

Years later, when people will look back at the one-off Test between India and South Africa at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, they might see the big scores and historic wicket-hauls, but they won’t feel what the 12,000-odd spectators at the Chepauk experienced - the relentless defence of the Proteas, the unending chirpiness of a ground-to-the-ground Indian bowling lineup. You’ll see the bun, but you’ll chomp down on it without even realising how those layers formed within, under the intense heat and pressure of the coastal city.

India beat South Africa by ten wickets in the one-off Test between the two countries at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai | Photo Credit: B Jothi Ramalingam

For India, whose newfound patronage of Women’s Tests has brought the MAC Stadium just its second-ever fixture since the one against the West Indies in 1976, there is the luxury of brushing past this win because it has become the norm. This is the team’s third Test triumph on the trot after massive victories over England (by 347 runs at the D.Y. Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai) and Australia (by eight wickets at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai). The highs have facilitated the formation of a stable red-ball core and now a revitalised domestic tournament. 

South Africa is a polar opposite. In the history of Tests for women, South Africa has only played 15 to India’s 41, of which three have just happened in the last two years after an eight-year red-ball hiatus. The Proteas have a solitary win in the format, which came against the Netherlands in 2007.

Laura Wolvaardt’s side has been the only one outside the ‘Big Three’ to show both interest and ability to invest in the game’s longest format for its women. However, their efforts so far have remained confined to the international realm.

Coming into this fixture, Wolvaardt had issued an ultimatum of sorts. | Photo Credit: B Jothi Ramalingam

South Africa does not have any red-ball or multi-day cricket at the domestic level and came into the Chennai Test having last played the format in a thrashing at the hands of Australia — an innings and 284-run defeat — in Perth earlier this year.

Coming into this fixture, Wolvaardt had issued an ultimatum of sorts.

“We need to play more Test cricket and incorporate it into our domestic system and practice, or we must just leave it because playing one in three years is very hard to adapt to. But I am on the side to have more of it,” she said.

With a weak spin arsenal on a traditionally spin-favouring surface, not many gave the Proteas much of a chance against the Goliath that India is turning out to be in home conditions. However, the side’s batting mainstays — Wolvaardt, former captain Sune Luus, Marizanne Kapp, and the young Nadine de Klerk — led a memorable resistance to make India earn its victory, stretching them more than both England (day three) and Australia (first session of day four) had.

Luus was the chief resistor. She pulled the brakes for three and a half hours in the first innings and a bit more in the second to wear down an otherwise boisterous Indian bunch. She had help from Kapp in the first innings, but her record-breaking 190-run stand with Wolvaardt truly defined the Protean resilience that this match will be remembered for. Wolvaardt learned from her early dismissal in the first innings and dug deep for over six and a half hours during her 314-ball 122.

Sporadic experiences of the long format condemn teams to be perennial learners. Wolvaardt had to figure out how to stay calm and power through the elements, her own doubts, and itches to score differently to drop anchor. As did the lower order, which batted for a collective 21 overs in the second innings compared to a paltry 7.5 overs in the first.

“It would be ideal to practise red-ball stuff more often, even if it’s just having a few inter-squad games or camps. Maybe a full-fledged four-day league is a little bit far away, but just to practise it a bit more. Just to come into an international Test match in India with absolutely no experience in the format is tough,” Wolvaardt said after the loss.

Players have always vouched for more Tests because of the challenges the format poses and its coveted reputation as the game’s purest format.

| Video Credit: BCCI

Indian off-spinner Sneh Rana went a step further in asking for more games within the Test fold in a series.

“We should have more Tests and it shouldn’t just be the one, there should be two!” she delightedly told reporters. 

But calls like that need Tests to be given greater context, first within the series itself and then internationally. The latter is a challenge when there are only four nations actively pursuing the format. 

India had the opportunity to go the Women’s Ashes way and make its home multiformat series adhere to a cumulative points system, where every fixture gets certain points. The winner is the one with the most points at the end of the full tour. Even after its steamrolling of England and Australia in December, India opted not to go that way when South Africa came visiting, despite the latter having stark structural weaknesses compared to the other two.

Harmanpreet Kaur has won all three of the Tests she has captained for India | Photo Credit: B Jothi Ramalingam

In such a scenario, much comes down to individual brilliance and even milestones for a large part of the game. Take Shafali Verma’s 200, for instance, which was the headline on day one. A 20-year-old almost going past Indian legend Mithali Raj’s Test top score — it was a record the nation was waiting to see with bated breath, but the youngster fell short. Her innings, alongside Smriti Mandhana’s fluent 149, gave India the cushion it needed to stay confident no matter how much the Proteas fought until the final session of the last day.

When India eventually sealed the win with well over an hour’s play left in the day, the scoresheet of that remarkable Protean second innings made its way around the Chennai Press Box. A bunch of reporters on duty signed the sheet with messages commending the visitors’ efforts.

As Wolvaardt came to speak to the press, she was given the envelope with tributes from the press. “I’m going to frame this,” she said.

Heading into the final day, batting coach Baakier Abrahams spoke about the team needing positive frames of reference in this format, particularly when it has little to no red-ball roots in the current system.

“There were some signs we showed of our resilience when we were under pressure and those are things we want to build on going forward. So if there’s going to be more Tests for women, we now have positive reference points to build on and we’ll only get better and the level of competition will get better and women’s Test cricket will benefit,” he said, foreshadowing a spirited batting show that saw SA drag the game to the very end.

This Protean effort must take pride of place in the nation’s batting showcase alongside Jacques Kallis, Hansie Cronje, and Adam Bacher’s efforts against Australia in 1997 in Melbourne, Faf du Plessis and AB de Villiers’ effort against Australia in a drawn Test in Adelaide in 2012, and Kapp’s match-saving exploits with the bat against England in Taunton. It didn’t bring a win, but it helped the nation remember how to defy the despair of looming defeat and fight till the very end.

The Protean lower order improved remarkably, batting for a collective 21 overs in the second innings compared to a paltry 7.5 overs in the first. | Photo Credit: B Jothi Ramalingam

With the Proteas set to don the whites again, this time at home against England, it could just be the ‘why’ that carries them to glory.

The case file for more multi-day red-ball games just got another incredible addition from action at the Chepauk. One hopes the powers that be, national and international, pick up the pages and read.