A First day defeat.

 Well,no point in giving excuses-the South Africans have played really well overall,and they deserved to win the match.
Now,regarding India's performance;they lost the chance to win the match in the first day itself when they were bowled out for 136.Losing the toss on a rain-affected damp pitch was bad luck,but the bowling was really superb;I doubt whether bowling at 128-130 kph range could have bowled the Saffers out if India won the toss.
But,that alone didn't win them the match.India could have still drawn the match,which they couldn't because of the inept bowling attack and a collectively good batting performance from the South Africans.
Run-rate was the key
As I had predicted then,Graeme Smith declared the innings,almost immediately after Jacques Kallis reached his First ever Double Century in Test cricket(201*).At the time of the declaration,South Africa's score was a whopping 620/4.Normally,to reach these kind of totals,a team has to spend at-least 180 overs at the crease;
(They spent exactly 2 days to score 558 in India,this year.) and with Stonewallers like Kallis and Hashim Amla,it could have even taken a few more overs.
So,it means to score this much,Smith should have made his team bat till the end of 3rd day and maybe make India bat after the Lunch in 4th day,which means India might have had less than 150 overs to defend themselves while batting and with rains having the potential to wash out a session(30 overs) or two of the match;it could have been even more easy for India to draw the match,as the pitch flattened out from Day 2 and even the Saffers know that India can also score many runs under flat conditions,as they too have a good batting line-up.

Instead,all the South African batsmen scored at nearly or above 70 strike rates;even Kallis and Amla,who normally take ages to score a Hundred,batted enthusiastically,Kallis for a change batted at 75 strike-rate instead of the normal 43-45.They scored 200 runs more than what they might have scored normally,in similar circumstances in the past.And the final blow was delivered by Ab de Villiers.My blogging friend mentioned that de Villiers' knock tipped the balance,he was partly right;as he took 20 overs less than what he might have normally consumed to score so much;so his blazing knock(the first 100 runs came off just 75 deliveries.) created an additional session's Game available for the 3rd to his team's bowlers.But,the batsmen preceding him too did the job perfectly to give the team,2 more sessions to bowl out the Indians;than what's normally needed.It was over-all,a perfect Team strategy which actually worked well on the field,and not one individual blaze which increased the run-rate.
And considering the fact that India indeed survived 130 overs(Almost the same number as that of South Africa's innings.);the real culprits have been the Indian bowlers rather.It's not like India never suffered such a first day collapse,nor that they didn't recover from it in the  past.Way back in 1999,when India got bowled out for 83 in Mohali,Javagal Srinath responded by bowling out the Kiwis for just 215,making the job easier for India in 3rd Innings(We almost went for a win.).Unfortunately,none of our 3 fast(??) bowlers can hold a candle even to Srinath,leave alone the World-class Dale Steyn.
They could not pick wickets,at-least they should have tried to contain the run-flow.The debutant Jaidev Unadkat surprisingly conceded runs at a slightly lesser over-rate than others,but it was he disappointed the most,because I couldn't bear watching those numbers of 120-125 kph speed,while he was bowling.And,watching Steyn bowl consistently at 140-145 kph range to the Indian batsmen,only added to the misery of fans like me!With that speed,can you frighten any batsman?Wonder when will India get a Hadlee, Marshal,Donald kind of super-fast bowlers?When will I see Indian bowlers torturing the opposition with their 150+ pace,and not torture us,fans with their 'Slow-Medium pace'.
Raina's performance can only be rivaled by Ravindra Jadeja's T20 World Cup performances.His bowling cost a whopping 78 runs in just 7 overs.And twice,he got out to a stupid shot.I believe he deserves a punishment,he has failed to deliver in his last 5 matches.
The 2 batsmen who played really well for India were rather Sachin tendulkar and Dhoni.I really liked Dhoni's performance with the bat in 3rd Innings,the hopes of saving the match were alive as long as both the batsmen were on the crease.Dhoni's dismissal to a really nasty ball of Steyn,crushed our hopes.
Although Sachin disappointed me with his slow batting against the Kiwis at home,he was really impressive in this match.I always thought a century against South Africa would really be a masterpiece,it's good that he's achieved the landmark of 50 Test Hundreds against them.His brief moments of aggression in 1st Innings took me by surprise,all the quicks,including Steyn were dealt well in that 36 runs' knock which included 8 boundaries.Sad that he was out immediately to a good delivery from Steyn.A century in 1st innings would have looked really good,might've been his fastest Century and maybe,the match fate would have been different.
I think it was Sehwag's dismissal in both innings and Sachin's dismissal in 1st Innings which cost us while batting.I'm a big fan of Sehwag,but I didn't like the way he got out twice attempting to slog.He should have at-least avoided it in 3rd Innings,as we needed to just move calmly,don't know what was the need for that slog shot,when he was looking good,he should have gone for a big Hundred,should have set up a much better platform;sadly he left the field,half-finished.
And I don't know why some fans suddenly start blaming Sachin for the Innings defeat,for not farming the tail-enders? The match was almost over when Dhoni departed,but he could have done something if the tail-enders showed some resolve.Why Harbhajan,who scored some 29 odd when there was nothing at stake,failed immediately in 3rd Innings?Sachin can't be blamed for Sreesanth's dismissal either;the latter indeed was involved in some partnerships in the past(In Durban itself),he should have tried facing at-least a couple of deliveries in the over.The critics are talking like as if Sachin had to chase 30 runs to win the match,damn!He had to score 30 runs and then even more runs to give the Saffers a decent target,at some point he should have exposed them;for how long can he protect them?98 overs?It's just a case of 'Success justifies everything';what if Peter Siddle got out immediately in that Sydney match(They were yet to erase deficit when Hussey exposed him.),what if Ishant was dismissed immediately?I'm sure they would have blasted Hussey and Laxman too!They succeeded,Sachin flopped,that's it.The bowlers who didn't show any resolve while bowling or even while batting.(At-least Ishant did the latter.)
Lastly,give credit to the Saffers,they played really good!About winning the toss?Yeah,Ricky Ponting won the toss on the Flat Adelaide wicket,decided to bat first and ended losing the match on 1st day itself(Virtually) thanks to a horror start;so luck alone is not enough,making the best use of it too matters.