India 187 (Kohli 54, Pujara 52, Rabada 3-39) v South Africa
JOHANNESBURG: Virat Kohli attacked with luck, Cheteshwar Pujara defended and defended solidly, both got fifties in tough batting conditions, but a lower-order collapse gave South Africa the upper hand as India went from 144 for 4 to 187 all out.
When India made the bold move of batting first on a green pitch, despite all the pressure their batting has been under, they would have hoped for a lot of grit and a bit of luck to ride out these tough conditions. There was plenty of grit shown by Pujara and Kohli, some luck followed through dropped catches and a missed review, but outside those two, India could garner only 83 runs, extras included.
If India were still in the contest, it was down to fielding lapses from South Africa. Kohli was dropped on 11 and 32, Pujara was on nought when the hosts appealed half-heartedly for an lbw and chose not to review a not-out call that would have been overturned. There was more sloppiness in the field when the tail was in, and comeback man Ajinkya Rahane was on three when he was caught behind off a Vernon Philander no-ball.
Philander was in the thick of the action all day. He began the Test with a spell of 8-7-1-1, the most economical first eight overs for a South Africa bowler in all Tests since readmission. His victim was KL Rahul, with a ball that seamed back in and took the inside edge to become one of Quinton de Kock’s five catches, but there was a moment when he could have supported his fellow fast bowler a bit better. Kagiso Rabada drew a Kohli top edge with a surprise bouncer. It would have been a sitter had Philander from mid-off or Aiden Markram from cover decided early enough to go for it. Neither of them did, and eventually it was too late for Philander to make up with a dive.
While Philander could be accused of being a little too short through the day, his first spell, with the ball seaming both ways, was still a testing one. Pujara took 31 of those 48 balls, which means 31 of the 41 balls Philander bowled while he was at the wicket.
There was nothing loose on offer even though South Africa didn’t do enough to make India play and edge balls. With so much seam movement available, you had to either wait for a rank delivery or take the risk of going after decent ones. Pujara took the first route. He just kept playing the line, making sure he didn’t follow the ball when it seamed away, and hoping he got an inside edge or that the ball did too much when it seamed back in. There were ironic cheers when Pujara set off for a run off the 45th ball he faced only for the umpire to call it a leg-bye. There was another big cheer when he faced his 50th ball, still on zero. When the run finally came, 81 minutes into his innings, having refused to play a loose shot, Pujara had made the bowlers bowl on his pads.
Kohli took the other route. He showed more urgency, nailing drives every time a ball presented itself for the shot. There was nothing half-hearted – as with M Vijay’s drive to get out – about Kohli’s innings. This 84-run second-wicket partnership couldn’t have done without Kohli at the other end. You couldn’t just stand there and not score. Kohli backed his eye to pick errors in length early and punish them. There were two cracking cover drives, one moments after he had been dropped by Philander. Rabada tried the one-two trick by threatening his outside edge repeatedly and then going for the lbw ball, but he never really got it right, and Kohli kept clipping him away. Later, when Andile Phehlukwayo, the fifth seam bowler, was introduced, more loose balls appeared, and Kohli and Pujara took 11 off his first two overs.
The shots didn’t stop; he had to keep playing them on this pitch even though they meant a slightly higher risk than usual. Post lunch, Kohli went to cut Morne Morkel, the ball was too wide, took the toe end, but this time AB de Villiers put him down at third slip as the ball dipped on him rather late. Just as the partnership was getting into the realm of the dangerous, Ngidi finally drew the edge from Kohli, a solid one on the drive. The catch nearly blew de Villiers off his feet, but he hung on.
Rahane couldn’t make the most of his break as Morkel soon trapped him lbw with a full straight ball. Apart from the fielding, South Africa could look back at the wide lines and lengths that kept beating the bat but were not full enough to take the edge. However, the run-rate always hovered around two, which meant they could get India out cheaply if they got their act together.
It needed a change in plans for that to happen. There was debate if South Africa would have been better served if they had selected a proper batsman and not an allrounder in Andile Phehlukwayo. What can the fifth bowler do on such a pitch that the main four can’t? Take an edge from Pujara, maybe. All day long, Pujara had been playing inside the line of balls that seamed away, but this one was perhaps slower, perhaps it seamed less, and took the edge through.
The lower middle order, in the absence of R Ashwin who made way for an all-seam attack, then capitulated. Parthiv Patel edged a cut, Hardik Pandya top-edged a ball that was not there for the pull, Mohammed Shami hit straight to mid-off, and South Africa were right back. The only application and resistance from the tail came from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, whose 30 helped give India something to bowl at. South Africa now had a tricky 23 minutes to survive before stumps.
