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From the outset the South Africans were dominant. They seldom found themselves in a level position with India during the Tests let alone on the back foot. India was never in a position to win either Test and would in all likelihood have lost the second Test but for a loss 93 overs through rain during the match. At the end of that Test they still had seven second-innings wickets in hand but no hope of reaching the 395 run target.
This series is South Africa's final outing before they battle Australia for the number one position in Test cricket. South Africa raised their rating to 1156 points after defeating India and easily retain second place in the ratings. They have increased their lead over third placed Pakistan to 95 points.
South Africa now holds its third highest rating in history. They held a rating of 1160 points twice in the past, most recently in January this year.
India again failed to win a series away from home. While they defeated the debutant Bangladesh in a one off Test in November 2000, they have not won a series abroad since their tour of Sri Lanka in 1993.
India's rating has now fallen to 1018 points and they remain in sixth place in the ratings. If Sri Lanka completes a white wash against the West Indians in the series being played in Sri Lanka then they will knock India into seventh place in the ratings. Sri Lanka has now defeated the West Indians in both of the first two Tests in that series.
Before this series began the International Cricket Council (ICC) appointed Mike Denness as match referee. Both India and South Africa agreed to this appointment. Denness is a former England captain and has held this position on a number of occasions when India has played a Test series.
During the second Test Denness found Sachin Tendulkar guilty of tampering with the ball. Television footage clearly showed Tendulkar applying a fingernail to the ball's seam. Whether Tendulkar was merely cleaning dirt from the seam the ball or deliberately tampering with the ball can be speculated about. The penalty was 75 percent of his match fee and a suspended one-match ban.
What cannot be speculated about is that, Tendulkar showed poor judgment. If he was just removing dirt from the seam he should have done so with direct supervision of a field umpire. A player of his experience and standing in the game should know this.
In addition, five other Indian players were fined, given suspended sentences, or a one Test suspension in the case of Sehwag, for excessive appealing. This is not the first time that the Indian Test team has been warned over this feature of their game.
Enter the former chief of the ICC who is presently the chief of the BCCI, Jagmohan Dalmiya. While not seeming to dispute the allegations of excessive appealing, Dalmiya.went ballistic regarding the inference that Tendulkar's reputation had been sullied.
Dalmiya.insisted that India would not play a third Test under the control of Denness and insisted that the ICC withdraw Denness. The ICC has in the past been accused of being as effective as limp celery. On this occasion, they correctly backed their official. To do otherwise would send a message to all future match referees to take no action in similar circumstances.
South Africa agreed to play India under the supervision of a different match referee. It is likely that the South African administrators had little choice. They had signed contracts to provide a third 'Test' for television coverage; advertisers at the ground; and had presold tickets to the public. The ICC, correctly, declared that the third match was not an official Test.
The upshot of all of this is that the game has been brought into disrepute by the actions of Dalmiya. Denness was not forced upon India before the series. They accepted his appointment without objection as they had in many previous situations.
Rather than causing an international cricket incident, India should have accepted the decision of the ICC match referee. Players in a similar situation are not allowed to comment in similar circumstances. If a player had acted in a similar manner in relation to a field umpire's decision, that player would be lucky to play again for his country in the foreseeable future.
India should then have worked behind the scenes to ensure that an appeal mechanism is put in place for similar situations in the future.
Finally, the ICC must urgently introduce penalties for national office bearers who speak out publicly against the decisions made by the ICC appointed officials in the future. This would bring them into line with the behavior expected of the players. Failure to do this will place ICC appointed officials in an impossible situation in future games involving the Indian Test team.
The latest Test cricket ratings are: 1. Australia (1205); 2. South Africa (1156); 3. Pakistan (1061); 4. England (1059); 5. West Indies (1044); 6. India (1018); 7. New Zealand (1001); 8. Sri Lanka (997); 9. Zimbabwe (937); 10. Bangladesh (837 provisional).
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