SA sea me rs push India on back foot
Hosts’ fast bowlers turn the screws on a bouncy Wanderers track to dismiss India for 187 on Day One
JOHANNESBURG: Rarely have India fielded an all-pace attack, 2012 WACA being the last time they had entertained this option. This Wanderers pitch, however, was New lands with more bounce. So out went the specialist spinners from both sides to accommodate the extra seamer.
India, mind you, had four pacers at WACA. But here, on an overcast and slightly chilly morning after a night of rain had done its bit in sprucing up a lush pitch, India picked five seamers only to choose bat first.
Only two bats men and a tail ender got to double figures as India reached 187 riding Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s brave 49-ball 30.
That and his late-evening dismissal of Aiden Markram again showed why Kumar shouldn’t have been dropped in the second Test.
South Africa had batted first after winning the toss at Newlands, going on to win the Test. ViratKohli, naturally, wanted to put the runs first. But what he perhaps forgot was India weren’ t playing at home. And, more significantly, he is by far the most qualified batsman to score on South African turf.
That assessment might see ma little harsh towards Cheteshwar Pujara who scored a vigilant 50 but he was expected to anchor India’ s innings with unwavering concentration.
Despite all the talk about intent, Pujara is known world over for grinding out tough sessions. If Kohli was all about class and aggression, Pujara personified grit and patience. Having toiled to his fifty and reached a point where he was finally midd ling the ball, Pu jar a should have consolidated an innings after he took 54 deliveries to get off the mark in the first place.
Five other batsmen batted on Wednesday but Kohli, dropped on 11and 32, again looked to be in the form that kept South Africa nervous.
Accompanying the flowing drives were Kohli’s impish grins that said he would go for his shots even if South Africa looked on top in favourable conditions. Edges were flying around, bouncers came thick and fast but K oh li had made up his mind not to take a step back.
It produced one of his gutsiest fifties that had nine boundaries. Vernon Philander first dropped Kohli’s miscued pull off Kagiso Rabada before Lungi Ngidi induced an inside edge off a delivery K oh li was trying to leave. AB de Villiers then dropped a sitter when Kohli chased a very short and wide delivery from Morne Morke land only got the toe-end of the bat. In Morkel’s next over, Kohli got an inside edge that flew just above his stumps.
Kohli took his chances, perhaps too many, to set India on track after they were 13/2. Once he was dismissed though, the run-rate took an immediate beating. India scored 52 runs in the 17.4 overs after lunch till Kohli was dismissed. The 62 deliveries after that produced only 17 runs. Rahane — brought in place of R oh it S harm a — tried to accelerate, driving Mork elf ora boundary after Philander gave him a life by getting him caught off a no ball. But Morkel soon trapped him leg-before that couldn’t be overturned with a review.
Pujara’s dismissal, paying for indecision over leaving the ball, soon after was just the break South Africa needed.