Well, SA has outplayed India in the Nagpur test, making even Indian fans stand up and applaud the batting prowess of Kallis and Amla and their fast bowling machines. Fans across India know fairly well what went wrong and comments will follow. Indian team and selectors have an extra day (saved from the first test!) to ponder the right team for the second test, but enough damage has already been done. But.. I look for silver linings in the thick clouds and storm.. There were some gains for India...and many for Royal Challengers Bangalore!!


Dale Steyn was given a fresh sort of ball, with probably one side shining, by the umpires at the Tea break on Day 3 and he ripped through the Indian middle order and tail. Well it may just be a coincidence of sorts, but South Africa found a bowler in Steyn to use it well, bowl at the right line and length, and swing it with sheer pace. Great victory of SA indeed, not much to take home for India though. Well almost..

Little master Sachin Tendulkar's yet another, his 46th in total and third in a row, test ton went unnoticed in the Steyn-gun attack at the VCA. So was Virender Sehwag's mature first innings ton. However, fans would have surely noticed how Badrinath survived the Steyn onslaught in the first innings for a half century and how the one who should never have played the test, Wriddiman Saha did no damage to his career by a 150 minute stay at the crease in the second facing 'rough-use' spinner Harris as much as the fast firing brigade. However, very apparent were the failures of Ishanth Sharma, Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra in the bowling department and no contributions from Gambhir, Dhoni and Vijay.

Well, fans all over India would now delve over what went wrong, partly blaming it for sloppy selection process, and praising the SA efforts more. As an Indian, I am dejected too and I have written about it in my previous blog as to how selectors messed up the selection. Wont write more about it again.

But I would feel greatly overjoyed as a RCB fan. You dont need to ask me why.. You know it very well. Dale Steyn. Dale Steyn. Dale Steyn. I wish I could repeat it many times in this context. Steyn hasnt had great outings in the first two IPL seasons for RCB but I think right now, RCB selection panel wont dare to rest him. And Jacques Kallis. Though JK's sedate test innings is no great cheer for a T20 format, Kallis has proved how he can switch from 2nd gear to the 5th in 40 seconds! Also, Mark Boucher's injury could prove to be a blessing in disguise for RCB, because, if he is unfit to play IPL over the next 2 months, that will ease up one international player slot as I feel RCB can manage without Boucher (I have stated earlier that we can go for the talented Sreevats Goswami or M. Gautam), but the team balance needs one of the overseas batsman or a bowler who is normally sacrificed for Bouchy.
(It is here Steyn will find his permanent place in the side along with Ross Taylor, Jacques Kallis, Eoin Morgan and Cameron White/Van Der Merwe.)

There is one more RCB connection to the Nagpur test. Abhimanyu Mithun. Indeed, he didnt have to do anything on the field and may be sacrificed for the second test as the selectors try to find scapegoats for the defeat. But if Mithun is a keen student of the art of fast bowling, then he would have taken a leaf out of Dale Steyn's artistic bowling book as the SA fast & swing bowling machine ripped India apart. Mithun would have gained a 5 test experience just by sitting outside the boundary line and watch Steyn, Morkel and Parnell operate.

Just hoping Steyn can do his magic with the white ball as much as he did with a red one!!