When DRS left Indians incensed

The incident we are about to unpack happened in Cape Town two years ago. Why bring it up now in 2023, you ask?

Well, that’s because the incensed party in the incident was India, and the party allegedly causing the said ‘irritation’ was South African broadcaster SuperSport. Moreover, India are headed to Cape Town for their second Test, starting January 3.  

The difference is, India had won the opening Test in Centurion the last time around. This time, they lost the opening Test by an innings and 32 runs. They are now looking to level the series and go home with some pride. 

In 2021, after India went up 1-0, South Africa levelled the three-match series in Johannesburg. The stage was set. The tension was palpable at Newlands. 

India were in control at the end of the first innings in the third Test, establishing a 13-run lead, but a measly showing in the second innings meant they would leave the hosts with 212 runs to win. 

South Africa lost Aiden Markram early, but Dean Elgar and Keegen Petersen weren’t about to let India through. They put on a crucial 78 runs for the second wicket, laying the base for a seven-wicket victory. 

Amid this series-defining partnership, however, there was a moment in the 21st over of the third day which reflected the mental state of the Indian team. 

R Ashwin struck Elgar on the pads and was given out leg before wicket by umpire Marias Erasmus. Elgar, upon consultation with Petersen, reviewed the call. 

It looked fairly plumb to the naked eye, but ball-tracking technology insisted that the ball was going above. Erasmus was about as shocked as the rest of the Indian team. The umpire was caught on screen saying, “That’s impossible.”

Ball-tracking technology is authorised by HawkEye, an independent body, which relays the data to the host broadcaster, in this case, SuperSport.

The real drama, however, began when then-skipper Virat Kohli walked up to the stump microphone saying, “Focus on your team while they shine the ball. Not just the opposition. Trying to catch people all the time.”

KL Rahul, the then vice-captain, said: "It's the whole country against eleven guys.”

R Ashwin went in for the kill. “You should find better ways to win, SuperSport.”

Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant chipped in with “making the sport look bad now.”

"We saw it, you saw it,” Paras Mhambrey, the bowling coach, said in the press conference. “I'll leave that for the match referee to have a look at it. There's nothing I can comment on it now. We've seen it all, just want to move on with the game now.”

India’s reservation with the ball-tracking technology is well chronicled, but they had practiced restraint because they had been on the receiving end of some lucky calls themselves in the past. 

But with the series on the line, and with the Elgar-Petersen alliance threatening their pursuit of history, Kohli and Co were not in a mood to play it cool. 

India are not in a position to press for a series victory here, but they are cornered, and you can expect tempers to flare and the stump microphone to be busy. 

There were a few exchanges during the opening Test at the SuperSport Park, but then again there was only so much play so there was not enough time for the building of frustration. 

In Cape Town, things are bound to be different, more hostile, more intense, more tense, or so we would like to believe. 

Another Test like the one witnessed a few days ago won’t bode well for the sport, least of all the Indian psyche upon future travels to the Rainbow Nation.