India braced for fresh trial by pace and bounce
CENTURION: Like the landscape, the tour is set to get rougher for India. They got their first taste of Centurion’s famed pace and bounce during nets on Thursday, two days ahead of the second Test. Home to the Titans, the Centurion Supersport Park boasts a pitch that will get quicker with more sunshine. Though Centurion did get some rain on Tuesday, it has been hot.
Having taken the lead in the three-match series, South Africa have come to Centurion, where they have an enviable record of 17 victories out of 22 Tests. Only England (in 2000) and Australia (in 2014) have been able to win here, giving the hosts an air of invincibility. And for this South Africa side, it doesn’t get more homely than Centurion as seven of them have played here all their life.
Openers Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram, captain Faf du Plessis, AB de Villiers, Morne Morkel, Quinton de Kock and Chris Morris all call this their home ground.
Adding to this long list is Lungi Ngidi, a 21-year-old pacer, who can bowl at 145 kph plus and has been named with Duanne Oliver as the injured Dale Steyn’s replacements in the squad. It looks like a toss-up between allrounder Chris Morris and Ngidi after Steyn’s injury, but South Africa may just include Temba Bavuma as extra batsman after the Newlands batting implosion.
India, however, have serious decisions to make. Shikhar Dhawan’s problem against the rising delivery is well-documented and was exploited at Newlands. Cape Town was another failure in Dhawan’s overseas record, but it was clear from Thursday’s regimen that he doesn’t want to quit early.
Spending considerable time trying to either get on top or leave canvas balls thrown at him from short distance was Dhawan’s way of fighting his demons. KL Rahul too slogged at the nets. So did Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane. But with edges flying around and the ball missing the bat a number of times, it wasn’t a
pretty sight.