We may not like it but Australia somehow scuppering India’s World Test Championship hopes on their home patch is the only way the Proteas will reach the final at the Oval later this year.
As the venue for the WTC Final was confirmed with a 7 June start date also announced, four teams still stand a chance of reaching that final match.
South Africa need some favours to do that but a convincing series win for Australia would give them a far better position, and with the first Test between the Aussies and India on the horizon, all eyes will be on events in Nagput.
They would still need Sri Lanka to not get anything in New Zealand but they certainly won’t be favoured in those engagements.
While India could also knock Australia down a peg, the position they have reached makes it likely that they would still reach the big match even if they suffered a whitewash in India.
That doesn’t mean that Australia will have little motivation, as every member of that squad would love to add a series win in India to their CV as perhaps the greatest achievement for an Aussie in this era of cricket.
Indeed winning in India is something on its own and has been for some time.
A Test series in India is blockbuster and the incredible turnouts at iconic venues in the 1990s in many ways shaped the future of the game.
Steve Smith rightly pointed out that getting a series win here would mean more to this group of players than any Ashes win could.
A four-match Test series in India, played on big-turning wickets is the biggest Test a team not from Asia could possibly face.
There is likely to be a lot of talk about pitches in the coming weeks but India will not gamble with giving the Australian quicks a thing.
If it means fines or condemnation, so be it but don’t expect to see a lot from the quick men in this series.
Still, Australia are a fighting bunch, and they could hold the key to the Proteas playing in their first ICC Final.
