5 Instances when India were beaten at home in Tests since 2000

1. March 2000 – South Africa whitewash the hosts by 2-0

Every time South Africa tours India, the images of Dale Steyn bamboozling the Indian batsmen with all his skills haunts the fans. Add to it Hashim Amla or AB de Villiers scoring a mountain of runs during their 2008 or 2010 games Ahmedabad or Nagpur. Yep! Those were brilliant performances, considering the present day scenario.

But, still, South Africa did not win the series on each of those occasions. Following a drubbing, India eventually came back to draw the series (1-1 in 2008 & 1-1 in 2010). South Africa has achieved better things in India before. Remember that 2000 series when they became the first visiting side to beat India at home after 13 years? And, not only beating India but whitewashing them in the 2-match series.

It was the series that marked the end of a lot of things: Sachin Tendulkar’s troubled tryst with captaincy and the Mohammad Azharuddin and Hansie Cronje’s careers.  The 2000 South African tour of India is now unfortunately remembered for what happened in its aftermath with the match-fixing stuff coming out in the open. But Cronje achieved what a lot of captains dream of: whitewash India in India.

Memorable tour for the Proteas

It was in 2000 March. India had just returned from a mentally deflating Australia tour where they had managed just a solitary win [vs Pakistan] in three months. Prior to the series, Sachin Tendulkar had announced that he would relinquish the captaincy irrespective of the result. Little had the Master realized that it would end in such a farce.

The Indian batsman had no answers to the pace of Alan Donald [7 wickets] and the accuracy of Shaun Pollock [9 wickets]. Jacques Kallis [5 wickets], and Hansie Cronje  [6 wickets] assisted them well too. The Indian bowlers sans Anil Kumble were equally clueless against the likes of Gary Kirsten, Jacques Kallis and Lance Klusener [131 runs].

However, Nicky Boje turned out to be the surprise package. The left-hander scored a crucial 85 runs before notching up a five-wicket haul in the second game at Bengaluru to set-up monumental innings and 71 runs win for his side.  Mohammad Azharuddin [102] scored a hundred in a losing cause which eventually turned out to be his last Test innings.