Dale Willem Steyn. Possessing an unconventional physique for a traditional fast bowler (as claimed by ‘cricket pundits’), Dale made every cricket watcher fall in love with him right from his run-up, his bowling action, followed by uprooting of the batsman’s stumps with his skillful swings and ending with (his unique) fiery celebration! But yesterday, breaking the hearts of many connoisseurs of his talents, the South African declared his retirement from all forms of cricket.
The highest wicket-taker for South Africa in tests, Dale proved to be the most successful bowler they had. He retired from the Test format in 2019 and was available for the limited-overs formats, but was not selected for any internationals since the last February. A man with 699 wickets, of which 439 were in tests, Steyn has produced numerous wonderful performances over the years. One such series where he stupefied his opponents and is still appreciated by all the cricketing greats, was his performance in the 2007-08 South African team’s tour in India. The series comprised of three matches, which ended with one win each for both the teams and one match drawn.
1st test
Dale’s performance in this test, consisting of 4 wickets at the expense of 103 runs, was rightfully foreshadowed majorly because of the exploits by non-other than Virender Sehwag, giving the run for their money to South African bowlers while scoring his second triple century. A high-scoring match through and through, Dale still proved his mettle by taking the crucial wicket of MS Dhoni and cleaning the lower order by striking three wickets, of which all of them saw their stump uprooted mind you!
2nd test
If one had to visit how destructive a bowler Dale Steyn was in his prime, the test at Motera surely can be one of those instances. A nightmare for Indians, the match saw the Steyngun in its full glory. Grabbing a 5-fer (which included the triple centurion of the last match-Virender Sehwag and the wall -Rahul Dravid) just within 8 overs and winning the match in the second innings by taking three wickets, Dale kept no stone unturned. With an astonishing strike rate of 26.67, complemented by the bowling average of 14 in the first innings, Dale was surely a sight to behold in this particular match.
3rd test
The result for this one was in the favour of Indians but still, Dale carried his form of the last two matches in this one and produced another brilliant performance in the first innings by taking the wickets of Virender Sehwag (twice in the series), Harbhajan Singh (four times in the series) and Sourav Ganguly (twice in the series) at a bowling average of 19.2 and a strike rate of 33.2. The second innings saw him go wicketless due to a below-par score by the South African Batsmen.
Conclusion
The series saw Dale accumulating over 15 wickets which had the big names like Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, and Sourav Ganguly showcasing how lethal a prime Dale Steyn can be. At a brisk economy rate of 3.56, Dale gave out one of the brilliant performances of his career, complemented by an average of 20.2 and a bowling strike rate of 34 over the series.
Even though he was one of the key factors which kept the series win away from the Indians, the cricket-crazy nation of India, along with the whole cricketing world will surely miss the many displays like this where the Steyn-man truly defined and presented the beauty of the fast bowling. As every athlete has their own ups and downs in their career, Dale too had his own share of it. Amidst all this, one thing is for sure that no one can deny that Dale Steyn lived the title of ‘Fast bowler’s fast bowler’.