Despite being the number one cricket side in the world, and arguably having its best player in Virat Kohli, India were defeated by South Africa for the second time to go two matches down in the three match series between the two sides. With one match still to play, India will be hoping to be able to test some new players as well as restore some pride. It seems that even the best side in the world struggle away from home. It is becoming a bit of a theme that test matches are becoming very one sided and simply dominated by whoever is the host and more used to the conditions.
We saw the same thing happen in the Ashes with the side hosting, Australia, simply blowing England away as they were much more ready for the fast pitches and prepared as such. Like with casinos, cricket has simply seems to feature the house always winning. If you like to bet on cricket you would be better off spending your money at a royal vegas online casino that wasting it on betting on cricket. It is becoming so boring and predictable that it just cannot match the fun and quality of a great online casino game. Watching your bet go down in flames is a much worse than playing an amazing online game of blackjack or poker.
Lucky, even if cricket has become a little dull from a betting perspective, it is still wonderful to watch for the skill and craft of the players. There was plenty of that from both sides in this India and South Africa series even if didn’t go quite as well for India as the recent series with Sri Lanka. The second test was lit up by one performance in particular, that of Lungi Ngidi who at just 21 years old and on his test debut made a performance for the ages. He took 6-39 in India’s second innings showing he is a player both for now and for the future. He even took the prized wicket of Kohli, a moment he will long remember.
India had a flicker of a chance as the game entered the final innings, the openers, Vijay and Rauhl took to the crease with India needing just 287 to win. Not easy by any means but not absolutely impossible. South Africa though quickly took the game away from them and at one point India were 87-7 and looking at a really embarrassing defeat. Luckily for the visitors their blushes were a little bit spared by Shami’s 28 which took them past the 100 run mark and in the end they lost by just 135 runs finishing with a score of 151 all out.
Indian cricket is in rude health and there will not be too many worries about losing a series to a side as good as South Africa. Kohli might have struggled in his second innings scoring just 5 but that was offset by his amazing 153 in the first innings. Clearly they lack the ability to back him up at the moment but they will hope to prove themselves in the final test. Whatever happens it has been an entertaining series.
