India v South Africa Test series - South Africa Player Ratings

After a terrific performance in the ODI and T20I series, the South Africa side was expected to turn up with another promising performance in the Test Series. But much against all expectations, and largely due to good comeback by the Indian players, South African team lost the plot in the four-match Test series losing it by 3-0. Even in the second Test at Bengaluru, they suffered a batting collapse. Had that match not been washed out, there was a high probability of the Protea side staring right at the defeat. The unbeaten overseas record they had maintained for the last 9 years was broken and the team could not even register a single win in the Test series. There is no doubt that the number one ranked Test team failed to come up as a collective unit. So how did the individual players fair up in the series? Here are the player ratings of the South Africa team for the Test series: Stiaan Van Zyl – 2.5/10: Stiaan Van Zyl. (Photo Source: BCCI) The South African opener, who had featured in 5 Tests prior to this series and had a century under his name, failed to impress in the series. He was one of the biggest disappointments from the South African point of view. He played the first 3 matches of the series and was dismissed by Ravi Ashwin on all 5 occasions when he stepped in to bat. His weakness against the spin was evident. In 5 innings, he could score just 56 runs with his highest score being 36 in the 2nd innings of the first match when he was demoted down the order. He was replaced by Temba Bavuma in the final Test. Also Read – Top 10 Teams with Most Test Wins Dean Elgar – 5/10: Dean Elgar (Photo Source: BCCI) Dean Elgar came as a surprise package in the first Test and picked up 4/22 in the fourth innings. He promised to be the ideal all-rounder for the Proteas in these conditions but faded away as time progressed. He scored 37 and 16 respectively in the first Test. He followed it up with a gritty 38 at Bengaluru but failed in the third Test scoring just 7 and 18. He got the wicket of Shikhar Dhawan in the 1st innings of the 3rd Test. The final Test was not great for him either as he managed to get just 17 and 4 in the two innings. Temba Bavuma – 7/10: Temba Bavuma. (Photo Source: BCCI) The 25-year-old replaced the opener Stiaan Van Zyl in the fourth Test. But the young man had already made his mark before making his first appearance with the bat in the series. During the second innings of the 1st Test, he was exceptional at the short-leg and picked two beautiful catches; one off Imran Tahir’s ball to dismiss Murali Vijay and the other was even better to dismiss Ajinkya Rahane off Harmer. In the last Test, when he finally got the chance to play, he showed great resilience and technique at a wicket where all other South African batsmen barring de Villiers struggled. He looked solid in the first innings and scored 22 runs. In the 2nd innings, he batted with caution and led the initial blockage along with Hashim Amla. He stayed at the crease for 117 balls to score 34 before being dismissed by R Ashwin. Hashim Amla – 5/10: Hashim Amla. (Photo Source: Associated Press) The South African skipper who had a great tour the last time Proteas visited India and had even scored an unbeaten 253 at Nagpur in 2010, failed miserably by his own standards. Amla scored 43 in the first innings of 1st Test but followed it with a duck as he was castled by Jadeja. The innings at Bengaluru was short lived as he could manage just 7 runs. The third Test started horribly too as he was dismissed for just 1 in the first innings. He put up a 39 of 167 balls but in vain in the second innings. The final Test saw his start with a 3 in the first innings and a fighting 25 of 244 balls in the second innings. For a player of his calibre, a dismal performance as this is totally uncalled for. Faf du Plessis – 3/10: Faf Du Plessis. (Photo Source: Associated Press) The South Africa T20I skipper was a big disappointment as he could not put on match-winning or even match-saving performances for his side. He had a horrible start to the series getting dismissed for a duck in the first innings of the 1st Test and 1 in the 2nd innings. He was dismissed by Jadeja on 4 occasions and he has 3 ducks to his name in the series. Being a senior player in the side, he was expected to shoulder some responsibility which he failed to do so time and again. The saving grace for him was his fighting 39 of 152 balls in the 2nd innings of the Nagpur Test. Delhi Test was another bad outing as he was dismissed for a duck. He gave tough resistance in the 2nd innings by scoring 10 of 97 balls but was dismissed by Jadeja again. AB de Villiers – 8/10: AB de Villiers. (Photo Source: BCCI) The best player in the South African side in the series was AB de Villiers. He top-scored with 63 in the 1st innings of 1st Test and followed it up with 16 in the second. In his 100th Test, at Bengaluru, he scored a gutsy 85 before being dismissed by Jadeja. A rare failure for ABD was in the third Test where he failed to get in the double digits and scored 0 and 9. In the fourth Test, he again top-scored with 42 in the 1st innings as the team bundled out for 121. In the second innings where they had to either play out 5 sessions or chase 480, they opted to defend their way to a draw and AB played a crucial role once again, playing out 297 balls though he scored just 43 runs but his 345 minutes stay gave them lot of hopes and once Ashwin had him caught at leg slip the game was over in a flash. JP Duminy – 3/10: JP Duminy. (Photo Source: BCCI) Duminy missed out on the first match of the tour but came back for the next three Tests. He started poorly with 15 at Bengaluru but showed promise with a 35 at Nagpur hitting 2 sixes in the first innings. The second innings was disappointing too and so was the fourth Test. It was the case of yet another senior player failing to even cross the 40-run mark in the Test series. Duminy failed miserably in the fourth Test as he could manage just 1 and 0 in the two innings. His performance in the series was totally disappointing. Dane Vilas – 4/10: Dane Vilas. (Photo Source: BCCI) The 30-year old wicketkeeper was far from being impressive in the series. Having played all the games in the series, he could not contribute with the bat. He scored just 47 runs in the four matches that he played with 15 being his highest score. His weakness against spin was evident and he failed to read the Indian spinners. His ratings are purely due to his wicketkeeping credentials where he did not look shabby. He took 5 catches in the series. Simon Harmer – 5/10: Simon Harmer. (Photo Source: BCCI) The off-spinner picked up 10 wickets in the series and played in the first 3 Tests. He lost his place to Dane Piedt in the fourth Test. Harmer had 2 four-wicket hauls to his name with 4/61 in the first innings of Mohali being his career best figures. Harmer could have done a lot better than this. Compared the Indian spinners, who reaped full benefits of the rank turners, Harmer could not impress much. He also leaked runs which nullified his efforts in the wicket column. While, on one end, the Indian off-spinner Ashwin bagged 5-wicket hauls at will, Harmer was seen stuttering for his wickets. Dane Piedt – 4/10: Dane Piedt. (Photo Source: BCCI) He replaced Simon Harmer for the final Test. He managed to get a four-wicket haul but leaked 117 runs in the first innings. He went wicketless in the 2nd innings though. His promising first innings bowling earns him 4 ratings. Maybe the spinner could have done better had he got an early look-in in the series. Imran Tahir – 7/10: Imran Tahir. (Photo Source: BCCI) He was the leading wicket-taker for South Africa in the 4-match series and picked up 14 wickets. His performance was great in the sense that he broke crucial partnerships throughout the series. He took 5/38 in the 2nd innings of the Nagpur Test to bring a sudden collapse in Indian batting from 102/2 to 173 all out. He also bagged 4/48 in the 2nd innings of the first Test match. The veteran leggie was the mainstay of the Protea bowling in the series. Morne Morkel – 6/10: Morne Morkel. (Photo Source: BCCI) Having missed the first Test, Morkel did well to lead the pace department in the remainder of the series. He picked up 3 three-wicket hauls in five innings that he bowled. He went wicketless in the Bengaluru Test which was washed out and also in the 1st innings of Kotla Test. But managing to get 9 wickets in the series which had almost no help for the pace bowlers, Morne Morkel turned out to show that if there is quality, then it would definitely yield results. Kyle Abbott – 7/10: Kyle Abbott. (Photo Source: Associated Press) He got his first opportunity in this series in the 2nd Test. The match was washed out and Abbott went wicketless in the first innings and was run out for 14 during the Proteas first innings. He did not play at Nagpur but featured in the last Test where he impressed all with his immaculate line and length. He was unlucky to have dismissed Vijay on a no-ball early in the innings and when skipper Amla dropped one off his bowling in the slips. But the fast bowler came back good to end the first innings with a 5/40. In the 2nd innings, he took the crucial wicket of Kohli who was batting at 88. He swung the ball both ways and was highly impressive with his accuracy too. Dale Steyn – 1/10: Dale Steyn. (Photo Source: BCCI) Well, nobody would blame Dale Steyn for this rating. The world’s number one ranked Test bowler bowled in just one innings in the entire series. He bowled 11 overs in the Mohali Test after which he suffered an injury and was ruled out from the remainder of the series. But being the spearhead of the attack, a lot was expected from him. He conceded 30 runs in the 11 overs he bowled in the first Test and went wicketless. Marchant de Lange was brought into the squad as a replacement, but he did not get a game. Kagiso Rabada – 3/10: Kagiso Rabada. (Photo Source: BCCI) The young fast bowler was a huge success in the limited overs playing a vital cog in the wheel for the Africans but failed to impress in the longest format of the game. Rabada could pick up just 2 wickets in the 3 Test matches that he played with the best of identical 1/30 in the first innings of first and the third Test. But not being very harsh on the young lad, to say in his defense, he did not get much overs to bowl either as the wickets were largely turning wickets and spinners bowled the majority of the overs. Vernon Philander – 4/10: Vernon Philander. (Photo Source: BCCI) Philander looked very promising in the only match that he played in the series at Mohali. He was ruled out of the remainder of the series due to an injury. Philander picked 2 wickets in the first innings (2/38) and picked 1/23 in the second at an economy of 1.91. He provided the early breakthrough by removing Dhawan for 0 in both innings and shaped the ball really well. Also Read – Top 10 Teams with Most Wickets in Test Cricket