No captain Kohli, South Africa's record in India far better than ours on their soil

Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli tried to defend his team’s debacle in the ongoing Test series against South Africa in the post-match conference by counter-questioning how many games did South Africa win in India. He retorted to that when asked about his team’s ordinary performance overseas after an invincible run at home. Kohli was mainly referring to the 3-0 hammering that India handed the Proteas in a four-game home series in 2015 under his captaincy but to conclude that the South Africans do equally bad in India is a sort of denial.

South Africa vs India in away Tests

The Proteas have a much better record in Tests in India despite the outcome in the 2015 series. The two teams have played 16 Tests in India since 1996 when the Proteas made their first trip to India under the captaincy of Hansie Cronje and the visitors have won five of them while they lost eight. Three have been drawn.

This means South Africa have a success rate of 31.25 per cent in Tests in India. The Proteas even won a series in India in 1999-2000, demolishing the home team’s long-saved record of being invincible in their own backyard, besides drawing two series in 2007-08 and 2009-10. Before Kohli’s men thumped them in that 2015 series in which the pitch played a big part, South Africa had an equal record with India in terms of Test wins and losses in these parts.

Compare India’s show in Tests in South Africa with that. They have played 19 away Tests against the Proteas and have just two, registering an appalling success rate of 10.52 per cent. They have lost 10 games (they also lost an unofficial Test during the 2001 series) while seven were drawn.

South Africa’s success rate at home is 52.63 per cent which is better than India’s record against them at home. Moreover, India have never won a series in South Africa and their best performance so far has been a 1-1 draw in 2010-11 under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. In the 2006-07 series, the visitors had taken a 1-0 lead under Rahul Dravid but lost the next two games to squander the advantage.

South Africa in India in Tests: Played 16; won 5; lost 8; drawn 3

SA’s success percentage is 31.25

SA’s best performance in India is 2-0 win in 1999-2000 series

SA’s biggest wins in India:

By an innings and 90 runs in Ahmedabad in 2008

By an innings and 71 runs in Bengaluru in 2000

By an innings and 6 runs in Nagpur in 2010

By 329 runs in Kolkata in 1996

India in South Africa in Tests: Played 19; won 2; lost 10; drawn 7

India’s success percentage is 10.52

India’s best performance in South Africa is 1-1 in 2010-11 series

India’s biggest wins in SA:

By 123 runs in Johannesburg in 2006

By 87 runs in Durban in 2010

South Africa versus India in away One-Day Internationals (ODIs)

If we look at away ODI records of the two teams, South Africa have an edge there as well. The first-ever ODI series between India and SA took place in India in 1991 (it marked SA’s return to world cricket) which the hosts won 2-1.

The next bilateral series between them took place in South Africa which the hosts won 5-2. The two teams have played a number of bilateral series on each other’s soil since then (1999-2000, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2013-14 and 2015-16) and South Africa have done better in those, even winning the last series they played here 3-2. India, on the other hand, have never won a bilateral or multi-lateral series in SA and some of their defeats have been too big.

Here is SA’s ODI record vs India in India (bilateral and multilateral):

1991: Lost 3-match series 1-2

1993: Lost to India twice in 5-team Hero Cup

1996: Lost in the final of Titan Cup to India after beating hosts thrice in the tournament which also involved Australia (SA won 3, India 1)

1996: Lost Mohinder Amarnath benefit match in Mumbai

1999-2000: Lost 5-match series 2-3

2005-06: Drew 5-match series 2-2

2009-10: Lost 3-match series 1-2

2011 World Cup: Won

2015-16: Won 5-match series 3-2

SA vs India ODIs in India: Total 29; SA won 13; India won 15; no results 1 (SA’s success percentage 44.82; India’s success percentage 51.72)

Here is India’s ODI record versus the Proteas in SA (bilateral and multilateral)

1992-93: Lost 7-match series 2-5

1996-97: Lost four times to SA in Standard Bank International series (including the final) which also featured Zimbabwe. One game was abandoned.

2001-02: Lost three times to SA including in the final and won once.

2006-07: Lost 5-match series 0-4

2010-11: Lost 5-match series 2-3

2013-14: Lost 3-match series 0-2

India vs SA ODIs in SA: Total 29; India won 5; SA won 21; no results 3 (India’s success percentage 17.24; SA’s success percentage 72.41)

South Africa vs India in away T20Is:

The T20I record between India and South Africa is still in its formative years and the record is even-stevens at this moment. South Africa have won two T20I games in India and have won both. Here is the glimpse of the two team’s record in T20Is:

SA vs India in T20Is in India: Played 2; SA won 2; India won 0; no results 1 (SA success percentage 100; India success percentage 0)

India vs SA in T20Is in SA: Played 4; India won 3; SA won 1 (India success percentage 75; SA success percentage 25)

After the loss in the Test series, it will be interesting to see how India take their records in ODIs and T20Is in South Africa forward but as of now, captain Kohli needs to take a lot of care about his numbers. The hosts are a far better side when compared to India as far as the away record is concerned. Facts say that.