“When you are in a situation where a left-arm spinner is bowling into the rough, you have to open up, make the bowler change his line, bowl somewhere else. But if that bowler is bowling there all the time, and you are not doing anything about it, obviously you are putting yourself under pressure. The important thing in cricket is you have to rotate the strike, you have to make the bowler think all the time. That didn’t happen,” said Vengsarkar.

And the final verdict? “It’s unfortunate because this was the best opportunity for India ever to win a series against in South Africa. We played so well in the first innings putting up 414 runs and then taking a lead of 41 runs. We were absolutely on top in the first three days, but during the post lunch session on the fourth day, we really messed it up.”