After Hope comes hurt for India in Cape Town

Hope can be an act of defiance but defiance alone isn't enough reason to hope. There were good reasons for India to hope in Cape Town. There was South Africa electing to bat first on a wickedly seaming wicket after picking those four quicks, and then slipping to 12 for 3 inside six overs of the match. There was Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock missing chances to halt Hardik Pandya's manic charge that ate into the hosts' lead. The timely Cape Town rain that helped serve up fresh bowling conditions once more when they were expecting to chase 350.

But Hope arrived at her graceful best to India's lunch party when AB de Villiers played one of his T20 pickup shots off Jasprit Bumrah. Virat Kohli jumped from his spot at wide slip and nearly ran the whole 30 yard circle along with Hardik Pandya. Not because he had masterfully dragged de Villiers into a deep mid-wicket trap. But mostly because that wicket finally brought parity to the contest, one that India mostly been spent chasing South Africa's shadows.

In that fledgling moment, Kohli's seamers had beaten South Africa in their own game. Could this be a team that said something and actually went ahead and did it in overseas conditions? Once he had caught his breath, Kohli yelled "Come on boys", with fist pumps in the direction of the Indian dressing room. Up in the balcony, the coaching staff had all lined up to salute the team's comeback. India needed 208 to win in Cape Town. Delicious lunch waited to be served.

But Hope didn't make it to Tea. All optimism had gone before the first sip and without warning. Everything had seemed well in the first half hour of that session. The sting appeared to have left the attack along with Dale Steyn. Then Murali Vijay twice used DRS to extend his innings, each time bringing the dressing room to its feet. Kohli got out of his chair and whooped, while Pandya clapped and enthusiastically egged his openers on.

Then the balance began to tilt the other way. Morne Morkel snared Dhawan before Vernon Philander got third time lucky with Vijay. When the usually-doughty Cheteshwar Pujara nicked off, India were 39 for 3, Ravi Shastri and his support staff shifted in their seats awkwardly as cameras panned to film Kohli's arrival.

"There was this flow the whole time: India's on top then South Africa's on top, then they are taking the game to us and we are taking it back to them," Faf du Plessis said at close about the fluctuating fortunes. "Just as an advert for Test cricket, that's as good as it gets.

"It was exciting and the fans had their full value for money because it was entertainment right through. There was no boring Test cricket, it was a lot of action. And that's why we absolutely loved this Test match. And even if we had lost this game, we would have been very disappointed but would have said the way this game was played was remarkable."

Then Kohli strode out to take strike, Hope walked out with him. But she made a pact. She would stay neutral for a while and side with whoever came out on top in the Kohli vs Philander battle. The Indian captain began, like he would in an ODI chase: Running ferociously between the wickets, punching balls through the gaps and scoring at a strike-rate of nearly 75 to begin with. Boundaries came and a partnership began growing. He went past 10 and then past 20.

But Philander was not without plans of his own. He set about convincing Kohli that he didn't have a delivery that came back in to the right-hander and when the batsman's reflexes had begun robotically expecting the away seamer, he slipped one fuller and back into the right-hander to win an LBW decision. Hope waited till the third umpire confirmed the decision. Then she switched sides for good.

"It hurts and it should hurt because that's the only way you can rectify the mistakes and come out with more motivation and in the next," Kohli said. "Everyone in the change-room is really disappointed with today's effort because we were feeling really good at lunch when we restricted them to under 210 (target). To not having got the job done... We had a chat this morning and we wanted people step up and get us wickets. Guy like Jasprit (Bumrah) bowled beautifully in his first Test match, he troubled the batsmen a lot this morning. Shami bowled his heart out, Bhuvneshwar was good as well and not having done the job, they will also be gutted about it."

Having fairly won Hope over to his side, Philander set about making other conquests his own. The clouds gathered around for his coronation. He flattened Rohit Sharma's middle stump before Kagiso Rabada wiped Pandya's smirk off. A hope-less Wriddhiman Saha didn't even attempt to sow seeds of doubt in the umpire's mind over a LBW decision while Ashwin ran towards him for a single.

South Africa's video analyst, Prasanna Agoram danced in the balcony. As did the 5000 people that had turned up on a Monday afternoon. Kohli looked pensively ahead, with his pads still on. The streak of white on Pandya's hair had travelled south to his face. South Africa were heading to the victory stretch.

"We were talking about it pretty much after every day's play, saying that 'this is as good as it gets in Test cricket'", du Plessis said after the game. "Obviously the crowd was incredible and we felt their support. And that was amazing on the field. But just the type of cricket that was played. If you were a fan and you came to day one, two and four, it was one of the most exciting Tests you've seen. It was fantastic to be part of. It definitely ranks as one of my favourite Test matches, yes."

An hour after Tea, it was all done. Philander came back to record his best-ever performance in a Test - 6 for 42. Fittingly, it came at Newlands, his home ground. By the end, as India began to collapse in a heap and the team balcony began emptying, the closeness between the teams from before was starting to feel like a trick of the mind. The winning team actually finished 72 runs ahead.

As South Africa's players took a mini-lap around the outfield to acknowledge the fans that stayed back, Hope was with them. They were 1-0 up in the series. But on the evidence of today and this Test, she may still have more allegiance switches.