A rejuvenated and spirited South Africa came back hard at India after their crushing loss in the first Test to gain control on the opening day of the second Test at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Monday, finishing 167 runs in arrears in the first innings, having bowled out the mighty visitors for a mere 202.
The biggest difference between the two teams in the first Test last week at Centurion was KL Rahul's century, which pushed India beyond the 300-run mark, but also the way South Africa bowled. The home team bowlers looked rusty as they were coming off a long break on the opening day of the series but on Monday, they look like a well-oiled unit ready to cause the damage they are expected to.
The South African young bowling unit consisting of lanky Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi and returning Duanne Olivier caused a lot of troubles for the Indian batsmen, who failed to provide any sort of resistance. From 49/1 at one stage, India collapsed to 202 all-out, and in reply, South Africa did extremely well with the bat to reach 35/1 at stumps.
South Africa's promising young bowling unit rose to the occasion as the left-arm fast bowler Jansen returned with impressive figures of 17-5-31-4 whereas Rabada and Olivier took identical 3/64 from their 17-odd overs, to spark a batting collapse in the Indian ranks and give their team an early advantage.
The day began with a heavy blow to the Indian team who announced before the toss that the regular captain Virat Kohli would set set out from the Test owing to an upper back spasm, with KL Rahul set to become the 34th man to lead India in Test cricket. Rahul had luck on his side as he won the toss and declared that India would bat, but there was not much for the visitors to celebrate in what turned out to be a second consecutive disappointing batting performance on the tour.
While Rahul's century in the first innings of the opening Test was the difference between the two teams, the stand-in India captain could not push beyond 50, for which he faced 133 balls and cracked 9 boundaries. Rahul was the fifth wicket to fall for India at the score of 116, before which they had lost Mayank Agarwal (26), Cheteshwar Pujara (3), Ajinkya Rahane (0) and Hanuma Vihari (20).
South Africa were rewarded for their perseverance and attacking approach despite not getting any wicket for the first hour on the opening day. After Jansen had Aggarwal caught behind while inviting the batsmen to drive, Olivier struck twice in as many deliveries to leave India reeling at 49/3 before lunch.
Pujara had looked somewhat unsure regarding his approach and intent in Centurion, and on Monday at Johannesburg, the much-wanted India No 3 batsman looked to be struggling against short balls aimed at his body. Pujara was lucky as a few chances fell on the ground safely after he somehow managed to fend off the ball. But on the 33rd ball of his laborious innings, Pujara could not do much against a delivery that rose sharply off the pitch to hit the shoulder of the bat, inviting South Africa vice-captain Temba Bavuma to grab what was an absolute gobbler of a catch.
For the first time in his career, former India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane fell for a first-ball duck when he went fishing outside the off stump, wanting to have a feel of the ball on his bat, but ended up edging it behind in the slips. From a position of control, India were left with a huge task of rebuilding their innings in which they eventually failed.
Vihari, who was selected in place of an injured Kohli, did well to survive for 53 balls from which he made 20 before he was bounced out as well by Rabada. The dashing India wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant never got going as he fell for 17 from 43 balls with only one boundary.
But the star of the innings, apart from Rahul, was spin bowling all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin.
The right-handed Ashwin broke away from a cautious approach to display his arsenal of strokes around the ground, making a superb 46 from 50 balls, laced with 6 boundaries. Ashwin looked deserving for a big score on Monday but he fell short by four runs to record his half-century.
India folded for 202 and hoped for making early breakthroughs into the South African innings with the pitch providing plenty of promise to the fast bowlers. The South African bowlers found plenty from the surface at Johannesburg in terms of sharp bounce, seam movement and general pace on the ball, but India were made to work hard by the South African batsman when they came out to bat late on Monday.
The brilliant Mohammed Shami pinned South Africa opener Aiden Markram leg before in front of the wickets for 7, but India could not make any more breakthrough for the remaining overs. South Africa skipper Dean Elgar reached 11 not out from 57 balls in the company of Keegan Petersen, who looked impressive once again reaching 14 not out from 39 balls when stumps were drawn.
It must be remembered that in the previous five matches that India has played so far and this venue, they have drawn 3 and won 2, which means that the visiting side would be keen and desperate to not allow South Africa get away with the first innings lead.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
Read All Articles >
