Depleted South Africa battle on another front

Since the time South Africa left Mohali, they have been trailed by bad news. On Thursday, they lost seamer Vernon Philander for the rest of the series, and on Friday, Dale Steyn was ruled out of the second Test.

Philander picked up an injury during a warm-up game and Steyn never recovered from the groin strain since the second innings in Mohali. Despite the talk of character and resilience, trailing 0-1 is not the best time to lose key performers. The weather is ideal for seam and swing, and both Philander and Steyn could have made the best use of the conditions. A serene skip- per Hashim Amla though put up a brave front.

“Losing Dale and Philander changes the dynamics of the team. But the guys who will replace them are quality cricketers. We are fortunate to have great depth in our side, especially in bowling. A series is usually won with 15 players, not just 11,” said Amla.

At another level, South Africa are battling the perception whether they can negotiate quality spinners. A bigger problem was failing to spot the subtlety with which the India spinners exploited their weakness. It has been accepted by both teams how most of the South Africa batsmen fell to straighter ones than spinning deliveries.

The fear of spin was bigger than the threat. In this backdrop, India will be expected to test them with the same tactics to see how well they have prepared since Mohali.

“The turning ball is a bit like a ball that nips; sometimes the bowl- er knows he is going to nip and at other times he knows which one is going to nip or not. For a spinning guy, it’s a great skill to have. As a batter, all you can do is play what you see instead of playing what you imagine. That’s something we will pay attention to,” said the South Africa captain.

Besides Amla and de Villiers, JP Duminy has seen the texture of Indian pitches more closely. With Duminy getting fit, South Africa will be breathing easy. Not only does he lend depth to the batting, his familiarity with the sub-continent is a plus, and his off-spin can be handy as well.

Morne Morkel is back. Kyle Abbott, who has joined the team, is set to play as the third seamer.

We should be delighted that we are getting result-oriented wickets because then you will have more people coming in to watch Test matches

VIRAT KOHLI, India Test captain No it (De Villiers’ 100th Test) does not (distract the focus of the team) ... Hopefully, he gets into the park tomorrow and wins the game for us

HASHIM AMLA, South Africa skipper