For the first time in the series, true Test cricket came to the fore with the batting side being able to frustrate the bowling side and tire them out throughout the day. Virat Kohli (83 not out) and Ajinkya Rahane (52 not out) did that successfully in the final session of play after being in a precarious position at 57/4 after 31 overs. But as the umpires called play off for bad light, nine overs short of the 90, India were in a commanding position at 190/4 and 403 runs to the good at the Ferozshah Kotla on Saturday.
Kohli and Rahane’s unbroken 133-run partnership for the fifth wicket nullified all of South Africa’s hard work in the first two sessions to put the hosts in a tricky position. More importantly, South Africa’s chances of getting a respectable target of around 400 and hoping for a win have become increasingly difficult now.
Morne Morkel’s lethal bowling to pick up wickets of all three top order batsmen had India’s back against the wall. He started off by sending Murali Vijay back with a bouncer of the last ball of the fifth over. Vijay tried to duck under the bouncer but was slow in reacting and left his glove high to send a catch behind the stumps to Dane Vilas. Even though Vijay gestured at his armpad, the umpire had raised his finger and the batsman had to walk with India one down after four runs and only five overs bowled in the day.
It got worse when Morkel returned to bowl his next delivery. Rohit Sharma had come in at number three possibly for two reasons. One in the hopes that he gets back to runs by being sent in to bat higher up the order. And two to give Cheteshwar Pujara time to recover after he was hit on Friday and had to be taken to the hospital for X-Ray’s. Either way, the plan backfired. Rohit went for a golden duck after getting bowled while defending the wrong line. He tried to defend the middle stump while the ball pitched on off and maintained its line to send timber flying.
Rohit’s total in the match stood at a miserable 1 run and in the two Tests he featured in, he scored only 26 runs.
At 8/2 after 6.1 overs, with birthday boy Shikhar Dhawan and Pujara at crease, India badly needed continuity to prolong their innings. The two provided that in balls played but didn’t carry the team forward in terms of respectable figure. At 53/2 and 29 overs played, Dhawan was dismissed with a sublime yorker off Morkel. The ball pitched directly on the leg stump line and with much venom in the ball, Dhawan couldn’t take off his foot away in time to block it and had to walk back after a disappointing end to a series.
Pujara followed seven balls later with Imran Tahir bowling a flat and a faster delivery that left the batsman without any room to play a cut shot. He made a massive mistake in staying back, rather than coming forward to defend it, and went back at 28 runs and India faltering at 57/4.
The situation almost turned dire in the next over bowled by Tahir. New batsman Kohli tried to cut the ball towards the third man region but seemed to have given an edge to Vilas. The umpire raised his finger and in complete petulance, Kohli stood with his hands on his hips, eyes widened in shock and glared at the umpire. The decision ofcourse wouldn’t change and the captain started to walk. Only, the umpire had to make the normal routine check of it being a no-ball or not and as luck would have it, Tahir had stepped ahead of the line. TV replaces remained inconclusive about the decision though.
From then on, Kohli and Rahane never gave South Africa any real chances to get another wicket. They did get beaten multiple times and had good appeals go in their favour, but their calm and composed partnership took India to a respectable spot and almost within winning distance.
BRIEF SCORES:
India: 334 & 190/4 (Kohli 83*, Rahane 52*; Morkel 3/29) lead SA: 121 by 403 runs.