Proteas have a mountain to climb
INDIA continued to do as they pleased throughout the second day of the opening Test against South Africa yesterday.
Double hundred for an opening batsman – check. Big hundred for a returning player in a new position – check. Three hundred run-plus opening partnership – check. Enormous first innings total – check. Three opposition wickets before stumps – check.
That all three of those SA wickets fell to spin, thus opening up some mental scars inflicted on previous tours of the sub-continent, will also be pleasing for the hosts.
The only concern for Virat Kohli is that rain has been forecast for the south eastern part of India for much of the next few days. Depending on which forecaster gets it right, anywhere between four sessions and two whole days may still be possible in this match.
Given the way Ravichandaran Ashwin and his partner in spin bowling crime Ravi Jadeja were getting it to bite and turn yesterday, under lights, Kohli might be confident that five sessions should be enough to go one up in the series.
Batting looked easy again in the first session yesterday as Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma took their opening partnership passed 300. Keshav Maharaj said the slow pace of the pitch was a hindrance for him and the other SA spinners, as was the fact that it hadn’t broken up as much as they would have hoped when play started. It would later however.
Long before then Sharma completed an innings of 176, making Kohli and India’s head coach Ravi Shastri look very clever indeed for shifting him up the order.
As did Agarwal, who is playing in just his fifth Test.
Agarwal became the fourth Indian player to convert his maiden Test hundred into a double century, while his partnership of 317 with Sharma the highest for any wicket for India in a Test match against SA.
Worryingly for the tourists, signs of deterioration in the surface merged in the extended second session with balls starting to jump and spin from the rough. That wasn’t the reason for Kohli’s dismissal – giving Senuran Muthusamy his maiden Test wicket. The Indian captain was just too casual about his shot selection and execution.
Not wanting to waste the best conditions for batting the other Indian batsmen did come down the track often, and with such a huge score on the board that attacking approach was understandable. It meant the last three wickets to fall – Agarwal among them for 215 – were all caught in the deep.
Maharaj picked up 3/189 in 55 overs of hard toil and concerningly for the South Africans, Muthusamy and Dane Piedt combined for 2/170 in 34 overs. “It didn’t go according to plan in terms of not controlling the run rate,” Maharaj said after play.
Ashwin and Jadeja, bowling with more pace than the SA spinners, then knocked over Aiden Markram, Theunis de Bruyn and nightwatchman Piedt in the 20 overs before the close leaving the Proteas with a mountain to climb to save the match.