silentstriker
The Wheel is Forever
India know how to bowl better on this pitch, and it helps that their fourth spin bowler outbowled South Africa's first spin bowler. That to me was the big difference, but really you put it on a right length and line, and you'll get some spin. Throw a bit of variety and you'll get wickets. India didn't bowl exceptionally well, and in fact, wasted the new ball in the first innings. This time around, Bhajji opened the bowling and India were spot on. So I think they bowled much better this time around, but it wasn't exceptional. There were some poor shots in the vast majority of the wickets, while one or two just had really bad bounce that got them.I thought from the first innings' scores it can't have been that bad.
Certainly have no problems agreeing with you there - seriously, try to remember 10 tests you've either seen or been to where the wicket has helped the quicks by being green and seaming, then flattened out to bat well for a few days, then turned big on the last day or two with spinners dominating. It rarely happens. You don't often get wickets that do all those things in the one game.
If the pitch isn't bad, did India simply bowl well and SA wilted, or was there some particularly poor batting?