Last chance for bats men to stand up
LAST BATTLE Virat Kohli and Co will fight to stop South Africa from clinching their first series sweep at home against India
JOHANNESBURG: In these competitive times, ‘dead rubber’ and ‘playing for pride’ are age-old clichés that don’t hold much ground. India should believe they can extract something out of this series even after losing it in Centurion. For, this team is too good to return home with the knowledge that the best they could do in South Africa was take 20 wickets twice. More significantly, India have never been white washed in South Africa and that is one record that the Proteas will be desperate to reset.
That is why a good outing with the bat is need of the hour for India in the third and final Test. What should give heart to India is that they have never lost at the Wanderers. The pitch however looks capable of throwing as pann erin the works. But it also should convince the management to take the unprecedented decision of dropping Ravichandran Ashwin as the sole spinner and play an extra batsman. That way, both Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane can play and Virat Kohli will have one less difficult call to make.
The only way R oh it won’ t play in the third Test is if India opt for four pacers — Ishant Sharma, Mo hammed Sh a mi, J as pr it Bumrah and Bhuvnesh war Kumar— with Hardik Pandya as the allrounder and the fifth seamer. Given how Umesh Yadav sweated it out in the nets though, Bhuvnesh war’ s place in the team isn’t assured. This being the last Test though, India could be tempted togo in with six batsmen, a keeper-bats man and four seamers. South Africa too are contemplating an all-seam attack, which means Keshav Maharaj could be dropped in favour of all-rounders An dile Phehlukwayoor The unisde Bruyn, adding more strength to their batting.
What isn’t important is how many batsmen are selected but their cumulative effort. At the pre-match press conference, Kohli had spoken about the responsibility each individual owned up to themselves about repeating mistakes. Che te sh war Pu jar a is the first name on this list with two horrendous run out sat Centurion when India needed him to play a mature knock. Possibly the only player apart from Kohli whose place in the team was never in doubt, Pujara must not let his goodwill be sullied by confused batting.
But expect Rahane to make a big statement if he plays. For all the talk about his eye-popping average outside Asia, Rah a ne has just one Test to prove that the management had indeed erred in not picking him for the first two Tests. Also, a good show here will act as a reference of current form when Kohli will contemplate on his eleven in England.
On another seaming and bouncy pitch like Newlands, discipline is the buzzword at the Wanderers and India must take a cue from how SA grinded out their bowling at Centurion. Partnerships will be the key and batsmen should begivent he freedom to gr aft innings according to their own comfort.