South Africa’s tour of the UAE began with a massive shock to the whole cricketing world as Pakistan beat the world No 1 side by seven wickets in the first Test at Abu Dhabi. A revival of Pakistan as a cricketing powerhouse was mooted by many former cricketers from the country. Graeme Smith’s men soon woke up to hammer Pakistan in the second Test at Dubai and square the two-match series 1-1. Still Pakistan did not lose the series and there was much to be positive about.
Then began the One-Day International (ODI) series and Pakistan looked all set for a routine victory in the first match at Sharjah. But South Africa snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, or better, Pakistan snatched a loss from the jaws of victory. They bounced back with an impressive win in the second ODI.
But South Africa won the remaining three ODIs convincingly and won the five-match series 4-1. The two-match Twenty20 series was also won by South Africa by a 2-0 margin. South Africa showed their dominance over Pakistan in the end. This prompted T20 captain Faf du Plessis to claim that South Africa can finally do away with a tag that has haunted them in international cricket for over 20 years. “I like that it’s finally not on us any more,” said du Plessis. But he was also quick to continue saying, “I am pretty sure that when a tournament comes we will be getting all of that again.”
The word ‘chokers’ is not something that South Africans will like a lot. In fact, in cricketing terms that is the word they must hate the most, especially the players. For long, South Africa have been plagued by this term. Apart from winning the 1998 ICC Knockout Trophy, the Proteas have never won any major international limited-overs tournament. Leaving that victory aside, they have never won a single knockout match in any of the ICC tournaments they have participated in. They have found new ways to lose matches from winning positions on numerous occasions.
Every now and then they produce performances that allow people to think that they have shed that tag. But all these come in either bilateral series or non-ICC tournaments. Once the global events begin, they choke in the big matches. Obviously the media and opposition players don’t let them forget these things. There is no doubt that South Africa are the best side in Test cricket. They have away series in England and Australia the last two times they visited those countries each. They drew two Test series in India as well. They have even pulled off wins in matches where they were second best for most parts.
But somehow when it comes for them to assert their dominance in ODIs or T20Is, the aggression goes missing. Beating Pakistan from losing positions should not bring that much joy, especially to South Africa. Pakistan have spiralled down in the international pecking order in the last few years. Pakistan themselves have given new meaning to the word ‘chokers’ in recent times. South Africa do have a much better team on paper and them beating Pakistan should not be seen as something monumental.
The 2014 World T20 is coming shortly and South Africa’s character will be tested again. There is no doubt that they are a supremely talented bunch of players, but they need to find a way to shed that infamous tag. The 2015 ICC World Cup is also not very far away and du Plessis’s claims of them not being chokers anymore will only be seen in these two ICC tournaments. Till then they need to stay grounded.
