SA dismantle India on Day 1
Pujara and Kohli show defiance
The Wanderers pitch may still have time to parade its apparent iniquity, but South Africa cultivated its devilry perfectly to bundle India out for 187 in 76 overs on Day One.
It wasn’t all plain-sailing for the hosts as they lost Aiden Markram (two) to Bhuvneshwar Kumar but night-watchman Kagiso Rabada (0) and Dean Elgar (four) saw off the threat to rest on 6/1.
When Virat Kohli won the toss and elected to bat, he must have primed himself with the challenge of batting in vile conditions.
The clouds were pregnant with lateral movement in the air while green-tinged but well-paced surface snared menacingly at the visitors.
Parts of Kohli’s 106-ball knock were chancy and he also benefited from two lives gifted by Vernon Philander on 11 and AB de Villiers on 32 off Kagiso Rabada and Morne Morkel respectively.
However, Kohli (54) also looked the most comfortable of Indian batsmen and some of his cover drives and punches down the ground would have made the MCC coaching manual greener than the playing surface with envy.
Charmed lives have short term leases and when he flashed a loose drive to De Villiers at third slip off Lungi Ngidi, it was case of when and not if they’d be bowling on first day.
Cheteshwar Pujara had a lot to do with India batting for the better part of the day even though he was subjected to cricket’s version of Chinese drip-torture by Philander.
In his 50th test, Philander (2/36) bowled on a five-cent piece just outside off-stump as his first spell read 8-7-1-1.
His sublime control was too much for openers Murali Vijay and Lokesh Rahul, with the latter inside-edging to Quinton de Kock off Philander to leave India reeling at 7/1 in the fourth over.
Vijay (eight) was tossed and turned like a tender steak and did well to last eight overs before he nicked off to De Kock off Kagiso Rabada (3/39).
In the morning session, Pujara eked out five runs from 66 balls while his second session return was an admirable 22 from 79.
While 45/2 was a decent return for SA, they delivered 16 maidens in 27 overs. Runs for India were harder to find than water in Cape Town. The fact that the sun came out meant Kohli and Pujara should have lasted longer than their 206-ball, 84-run third wicket partnership.
While Pujara pushed on to a 179-ball 50, the recalled Ajinkya Rahane (nine) provided little by way of resistance as India lost three wickets on 144.