Bowlers rule on first day

Cricket Third Test : Indians hit back after crashing to 215 all out on a turning track

 Fast bowlers’ deliveries threatening batsmen’s ankles rather than their rib cage, wide cracks before a ball could be bowled and puff of dust coming out less than an hour into opening day’s play summed up the state of the pitch on offer for the third Test here.

Having opted to bat first, India were bowled out for 215 despite a 50-run stand for the opening wicket on Wednesday’s first day here at the VCA Stadium. Paceman Morne Morkel (3/35) adapted brilliantly on a rank turner while off-spinner Simon Harmer (4/78) exploited the conditions beautifully to flummox the Indian batsmen whose skills against the turning ball were tested severely.

It’s a total the hosts may not be too proud of after a good start but they wouldn’t be losing their sleep over it either. Given the myriad tricks that the pitch is playing, the score appears twice its size at the moment. And in the nine overs that they got to bowl, India prised out two South African batsmen, including night watchman Imran Tahir, for 11 runs to take a vice-like grip over the match here at the VCA Stadium on Wednesday.

R Ashwin dismissed an edgy Stiaan van Zyl with a classic off-spinner in his second over while Ravindra Jadeja cleaned up a clueless Tahir three overs later to give an indication of things to unfold on the second day. Trailing India by 204 runs, South Africa will have to bat out of their skin to keep the three Indian spinners at bay. While the visiting batsmen do have the skills to counter the home bowlers, they have certainly lacked the temperament to tame the conditions so far.

There was not much carry for the South African pacers, while the spinners, pressed into service as early as in the ninth over of the morning, extracted big turn from the moment they came on to bowl. The short length that the Proteas pacemen, especially Morkel, maintained in their opening spells wasn’t ideal for the sluggish nature of the pitch. Barring the odd ball that kicked up or stayed low, M Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan negotiated both Morkel and Kagiso Rabada quite well to justify the decision to bat first.

Left-arm spinner Dean Elgar drew the first blood when Dhawan tried to drive him in front of the wicket, only managing an inside bottom edge as the ball spun into him and the bowler completed an excellent diving catch. Returning to bowl, Morkel was wiser by the experience. While he consistently pitched the ball a little fuller than he did in his first spell, the right-arm quick also managed to ally some reverse swing to it. A well-set Vijay was the first of his three victims to fall on the day when his fullish ball shaped away just enough to miss the batsman’s attempted flick and catch him in front. Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli then saw off the rest of the first session to break for lunch at 85/2.

The middle session proved to be a productive one for the visitors with the brilliant Morkel leading the charge. By now it was evident that scoring in front of the wicket was an idea fraught with danger but Morkel and Harmer gave little room for the batsmen to score square off the wicket. While Harmer purchased appreciable turn, he wasn’t getting enough bite off the pitch to trouble the batsmen in the first few overs as he was a touch slower through the air. But once he got his pace aligned to the pitch, he reaped rich rewards. The tall bowler trapped Pujara lbw with the one that spun into the batsman before Morkel stamped his class in a post-lunch spell of 4-2-8-2 that was characterised by typical fast bowler’s hostility.

The full ball did the trick again when Rahane played a loose drive and missed the line to see his stump rattled. Kohli then couldn’t help but poke at a delivery that swung away from him for stumper Dean Vilas to bring up an easy catch. Rohit Sharma, who had come in place of Stuart Binny to shore up the batting, fell to Harmer’s guile for a 28-ball two. India lost four wickets for 64 runs in a session totally dominated by Morkel and Harmer.

Jadeja (34) swung his bat around while Wriddhiman Saha gritted out (32) in the middle to add 48 valuable runs for the seventh wicket that helped India cross the 200-barrier.

score board

INDIA (I Innings):
Vijay lbw Morkel    40
(97m, 84b, 3x4, 1x6)
Dhawan c & b Elgar    12
(68m, 23b, 2x4)
Pujara lbw Harmer    21
(63m, 43b, 2x4)
Kohli c Vilas b Morkel    22
(73m, 55b, 2x4)
Rahane b Morkel    13
(27m, 25b, 1x6)
Rohit c de Villiers b Harmer    2
(39m, 28b)
Saha c Duminy b Harmer    32
(141m, 106b, 4x4)
Jadeja b Rabada    34
(73m, 54b, 6x4)
Ashwin b Tahir    15
(56m, 44b, 1x4)
Mishra lbw Harmer    3
(22m, 9b)
Ishant (not out)    0
(2m, 0b)
Extras (B-15, LB-3, NB-1, W-2)    21
Total (all out, 78.2 overs)    215
Fall of wickets: 1-50 (Dhawan), 2-69 (Vijay), 3-94 (Pujara), 4-115 (Rahane), 5-116 (Kohli), 6-125 (Rohit), 7-173 (Jadeja), 8-201 (Saha), 9-215 (Ashwin).
Bowling: Morkel 16.1-7-35-3 (nb-1), Rabada 17-8-30-1 (w-2), Harmer 27.2-2-78-4, Elgar 4-0-7-1, Tahir 12.5-1-41-1, Duminy 1-0-6-0.
SOUTH AFRICA (I Innings):
Van Zyl c Rahane b Ashwin    0
(13m, 7b)
Elgar (batting)    7
(36m, 30b, 1x4)
Tahir b Jadeja    4
(13m, 12b)
Amla (batting)    0
(6m, 5b)
Total (for 2 wkts, 9 overs)    11
Fall of wickets: 1-4 (van Zyl), 2-9 (Tahir).
Bowling: Ishant 2-1-4-0, Ashwin 4-2-5-1, Jadeja 3-1-2-1.