JOIN USSA go for a spin on day one
Perception, rather than the hard truth, appears to be the flavour of the season – be it the conflict of interest or the nature of pitches for the ongoing Test series between India and South Africa.
For the second match in succession, most of the South African batsmen succumbed to the perceived threat of turn rather than the actual turn off the pitch. R Ashwin (4/70), who set in motion a third South African batting implosion in as many innings with a double strike in his opening over itself, and Ravindra Jadeja (4/51) shared eight wickets between them equally as the visitors folded for an anaemic 214 following a series of soft dismissals. The innings was over in a matter of 59 overs, in just under five hours.
Incidentally, this was the first time in 20 Tests over 41 years that a team winning the toss at the Chinnaswamy stadium decided to bowl first and Virat Kohli couldn’t have asked for more from his bowlers on what was a good batting track. As expected, India effected two changes to their Mohali combination by bringing in Ishant Sharma and Stuart Binny in place of Umesh Yadav and Amit Mishra. If further proof of the true nature of the surface was needed, it came in the manner in which the Indian openers batted through rest of Saturday’s opening day of the second Test.
M Vijay (28 batting) and Shikhar Dhawan (45 batting) forged an 80-run stand for the unbroken first wicket to put India firmly in control of the match. While the in-form Vijay looked comfortable, Dhawan put behind his double-duck show in the first Test to take India within 134 runs of South Africa’s total.
Mercifully, the forecast for rain for the day didn’t materialise and the weekend crowd flocked the stadium in big numbers what with this being AB de Villiers’ 100th Test. The ABD chants reached a crescendo with just over an hour’s play into the opening session. While the fans were more than happy to welcome the batsman to the crease, his early arrival meant South Africa were down three batsmen, although none of those three dismissals had anything to do with the turning ball.
Stiaan van Zyl, after negotiating the pacers without much trouble along with Dean Elgar, was trapped in front while playing a straight delivery from Ashwin who was brought on after just seven overs. The southpaw played for the turn but the ball followed its natural path to strike him below the knee.
Two balls later in the same over, Faf du Plessis attempted to flick Ashwin on the move but couldn’t get past Cheteshwar Pujara, who dived in front to take a low catch at short leg. Umpire Richard Kettleborough gave him out and on referral, replays couldn’t conclusively prove that the catch wasn’t clean. The original decision was thus upheld.
Skipper Hashim Amla was the third man to go, beaten for pace by Varun Aaron. The fullish delivery nipped back just enough to knock down Amla’s woodwork and leave the South African innings in disarray.
In walked de Villiers and saw off the rest of the first session without further damage in the company of a determined Elgar. Upon resumption, Jadeja struck with the second ball of the session to send back Elgar. The southpaw’s intended sweep saw him bowled round his legs as the ball rolled on to stumps off his glove. The shot was totally unwarranted and the reaction from the batsman described it all. Jadeja was brilliant in the post-lunch play, blocking runs and pushing the batsmen into taking risks. The left-arm spinner, man of the match in Mohali, claimed three of the four wickets to fall in the middle session while giving away 53 runs.
Even as de Villiers looked least perturbed by the conditions, picking up fours in effortless manner, batsmen at the other end seemed to be playing a different set of bowlers on a different strip. He did appear a bit iffy at the start, but once he slipped into his usual mode, there was no stopping him. Watched by his wife and parents, the right-hander looked primed for a 100 on his 100th Test but a brilliant one-handed diving catch by wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha put an end to his delightful innings.
The hosts then wiped off the tail in 7.5 overs after tea to position themselves on a strong wicket.
score board
SOUTH AFRICA (I Innings):
Van Zyl lbw Jadeja 10
(37m, 20b, 2x4)
Elgar b Jadeja 38
(118m, 81b, 2x4, 1x6)
du Plessis c Pujara b Ashwin 0
(5m, 3b)
Amla b Aaron 7
(33m, 18b, 1x4)
De Villiers c Saha b Jadeja 85
(159m, 105b, 11x4, 1x6)
Duminy c Rahane b Ashwin 15
(47m, 39b, 2x4)
Vilas c & b Jadeja 15
(43m, 32b, 1x4)
Abbott (run out) 14
(56m, 40b, 2x4)
Rabada c Pujara b Jadeja 0
(2m, 2b)
Morkel c Binny b Ashwin 22
(25m, 20b, 3x4)
Tahir (not out) 0
(1m, 0b)
Extras (LB-2, NB-6) 8
Total (all out, 59 overs) 214
Fall of wickets: 1-15 (van Zyl), 2-15 (du Plessis), 3-45 (Amla), 4-78 (Elgar), 5-120 (Duminy), 6-159 (Vilas), 7-177 (de Villiers), 8-177 (Rabada), 9-214 (Morkel).
Bowling: Ishant 13-3-40-0, Binny 3-2-1-0, Ashwin 18-2-70-4, Aaron 9-0-51-1, Jadeja 16-2-50-4.
INDIA (I Innings):
Vijay (batting) 28
(107m, 73b, 5x4)
Dhawan (batting) 45
(107m, 62b, 7x4)
Extras (B-4, NB-3) 7
Total (for no loss, 22 overs) 80
Bowling: Morkel 7-1-23-0 (nb-3), Abbott 6-1-18-0, Rabada 5-1-17-0, Duminy 2-0-9-0, Tahir 2-0-9-0.