Tough day at office for the embattled Proteas
India all set to shake it up with Kohli in the wings
India reached stumps on the second day of the third and final Test at the Wanderers on 49/1 and leading South Africa by 42 runs and with nine wickets‚ including that of their talismanic captain Virat Kohli‚ in the bank.
India will resume on the third day as favourites this morning with Murali Vijay (13) and KL Rahul (16) looking to improve on their promising partnership of 32 that came from 72 balls.
On the first day on Wednesday‚ 11 wickets fell on the day and 10 more tumbled yesterday as bowlers continued to dominate the batsmen on this wild Bullring pitch that is difficult to bat on.
India bowled out South Africa for 194 but their second innings did not start well because of the early dismissal of Parthiv Patel who departed for 16 when Aiden Markram claimed a flying catch at third slip from the bowling of Vernon Philander.
When the South African first innings ended in the third session with a slender lead of seven runs‚ Hashim Amla‚ who survived three close reviews‚ Philander and Kagiso Rabada were the pick of the batsmen with good contributions of 61‚ 35 and 30 respectively.
On the Indian side‚ Jasprit Bumrah claimed his first Test five-wicket haul and ended with figures of 5/54 while Bhuvneshwar Kumar took three scalps and Mohammed Shami and Ishant Sharma ended with one each.
Earlier in the day‚ nighwatchman Rabada got a standing ovation from the small crowd when he walked off after he scored a defiant 30 off 83 runs to help SA to 81/3 at lunch. Before he departed‚ the first wicket to fall was opener Dean Elgar for four runs when he was bowled out by Kumar and caught by Patel.
In the second session‚ Proteas lost the vital wickets of AB de Villiers (5)‚ captain Faf du Plessis (8)‚ Quinton de Kock (8) who struggled to stamp their authority on the match under tremendous pressure from the Indian pace attack.
India made another breakthrough after tea when Hardik Pandya caught the last recognised batsman in the Proteas lineup in the form of Amla at deep mid-wicket having scored a brave 61 off 121.
In his patient knock of 239 minutes on the crease‚ the “Mighty Hash” managed to score seven boundaries and he looked good only to be outdone after trying to play a strange flick shot that went straight to well positioned Pandya.
Philander‚ who shared a partnership of 44 with Amla‚ soon followed after he scored a valuable 35 off 55 when he was caught by Bumrah at fine leg from the bowling of Mohammed Shami trying to find the boundary.