Pandya shines for Indians

Spirit and defiance, but Dale Steyn again forced out of match

at Newlands

● An electronic alarm flooded the press box with annoyance when Dale Steyn was midway through his third over of the morning yesterday.

Few took any notice. Perhaps we should have — Steyn was midway through the last over before tea when he pulled up short and hobbled off the field.

The nation dropped its beer and hoped against hope that it was seeing things. It wasn’t: Steyn will be out for up to six weeks with an injured heel. He was undone by landing badly in a foothole. Of all bloody things.

Steyn was playing his first test since November 2016, when a fractured shoulder might have ended his career.

Steyn is playing his first test since November 2016, when a fractured shoulder might have ended his career.

Instead he showed spirit and defiance, considering he has more miles on his body clock than 34-year-olds who don’t bowl fast for a living, to earn a crack at a comeback.

This is that comeback, and the two wickets Steyn has taken put him three away from replacing Shaun Pollock as South Africa’s champion test bowler.

When he will be back to fulfil what has seemed his destiny for years remained unanswered by stumps, which South Africa reached on 65/2 in their second innings for a lead of 142.

The gap between the teams looked like yawning far wider when India shambled to 76/5 in reply to the home side’s first innings of 286.

South Africa had bowled like neurotic accountants in a first session of 25 overs, 10 of them maidens, that yielded only 48 runs. Steyn and Vernon Philander set the tone with four maidens to start the day’s play.

But the wicket of Rohit Sharma was South Africa’s only reward for all that toil.

Then Cheteshwar Pujara sliced the first ball after lunch, a Philander outswinger, thick and juicy to second slip and it seemed the slide might be on.

But the deceptively ordinary figure of Hardik Pandya strode to the wicket and took guard for his fourth test innings, and everything changed.

Pujara had spent more than two-and-ahalf hours at the crease and faced 92 balls for his 26. Pandya batted for a minute less and faced three more deliveries — and scored 93.

Even on a placid pitch and against lesser opponents his would have been a gutsy effort. On this zesty pitch, a template for grounds everywhere, and against South Africa’s crack attack, Pandya played an innings for the ages; a thing not of beauty but of ballsy belligerence.

He should have been dismissed for 15 — when Dean Elgar in the gully made a mess of a catch off Steyn — and 69 — when Quinton de Kock botched a stumping off Keshav Maharaj. Not only did Pandya survive, he prospered. And prominently in a stand of 99 with Bhuvneshwar Kumar that started after India had slipped to 92/7.

South Africa let fly at Pandya with everything they had. He took everything, body blows and all, and returned it with interest Picture: Gallo Images until he tried to launch his main tormentor, Kagiso Rabada, over gully and edged to De Kock instead.

With that Pandya packed up his 14 fours and a six and left, and took with him the respect of all who saw him play.

Given everything that had gone before, South Africa’s second innings might have been a yawn.

And especially so with Elgar looking, early on, like a scratchy facsimile of the player who scored 1 128 runs last year.

But Aiden Markram accepted the challenge with elegance to burn.

His first boundary, off Kumar, scooted through the covers and was immediately followed by another, this one off the edge and over gully.

Other Markram fours streaked away to mid-on, cover, twice, midwicket and extra cover.

Then, just when it seemed he was settling in for the afternoon, at least, he was gone for 34 — caught at backward point trying to pull. Elgar was caught behind 10 balls later for 25.

Both times the bowler was Pandya.

He packed up his 14 fours and a six and left, and took with him the respect of all who saw him play