Before it embarked on its tour of India, South Africa’s last Test fixture ended in a wet draw against Bangladesh, when the last four days of play were rained out in Chittagong.
So when a similar fate befell Hashim Amla’s men in Bengaluru, they at least had the benefit of experience.
“Hopefully, we get a lot more cricket in Nagpur where the weather should be more cricket-friendly,” he said here on Wednesday.
“But we had a similar experience in Bangladesh not too long ago. A few days of Test cricket were washed out and there was nothing we could do about it.
“Dale (Steyn) got to 400 Test wickets (in Chittagong) and we held on to that. Now AB (de Villiers) played his 100th Test and did pretty well. We’re pretty chuffed about that. From a team point of view, I don’t see a great lot of positives to take out.”
India may feel South Africa dodged a bullet here, but Amla did not take that view.
“Although we got bowled out for 214 and India were in a good position at the end of the day, Test matches are not always won on the first day,” he said.
“There was a lot of time left for us to claw our way back into the game. You never know what could have happened, but it wasn’t meant to be.
It will be great for us to get some confidence under our belts, not having successful batting stints as yet. But Nagpur is a different Test and hopefully that’s when it starts.”
Uncertain about SteynAmla was not certain if Steyn, who missed the second Test with a groin injury, would be fit to play.
“I’m not 100 per cent sure what the exact prognosis is but if he is ready, it would be great to have him back,” he said. “If he was fully fit he would have played this Test match.”
