Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal got a couple of unplayable deliveries, while Shubman Gill played an irresponsible shot as India, staring at an innings defeat, stuttered to 62 for 3 at tea on the third day of the opening Test against South Africa here on Thursday.
South Africa, riding on Dean Elgar’s superbly-crafted 185 and Marco Jansen’s career-best 84, posted a healthy first-innings score of 408.
Trailing by 163 runs, India’s lack of preparedness was evident as the top order could neither handle movement nor bounce as they still need 101 runs to avoid an embarrassing innings defeat.
Virat Kohli (18 batting) and Shreyas Iyer (6 batting) are surviving dangerously with the deliveries flying all around. The sun is beating down, odd balls are keeping low and survival isn’t an option against a quality Proteas attack.
Kagiso Rabada, just like he had got Virat Kohli in the first innings, bowled one in the off-middle corridor to Rohit Sharma (0). The skipper closed the face of his bat after the ball had moved away, only to see the off-stump pegged back.
Rohit had anticipated an inswing but it deviated away.
Yashasvi Jaiswal (5) hasn’t played on a track offering such steep bounce. Nandre Burger got one to rear up from length and Jaiswal’s technique of swaying away from the delivery didn’t help matters, with the ball kissing the gloves and landing into the keeper’s hands.
Shubman Gill (26) knew that attack was the best form of defence. But when Jansen fired one into the blockhole from wide of the crease, Gill played all over when the situation demanded a bit more discretion.
Kohli hit some nice boundaries but it will be a miracle for India to change the course of the match.
Earlier veteran Elgar missed out on a well-deserved maiden double hundred but inflicted enough damage on India in company of young Jansen to potentially bat the visitors out of the opening Test.
Elgar, whose previous highest Test score is 199, was inching towards his maiden double hundred before a faint tickle to a leg-side bouncer from Shardul Thakur brought an end to his innings.
But that didn’t deter the lanky Jansen, not exactly known for his batting prowess, from negotiating a deflated Indian attack that looked out of sorts and bereft of ideas.
The Elgar-Jansen pair added 111 runs for the sixth wicket.
The Indian bowlers were even more disappointing on the third morning with Shardul Thakur (1/101 in 19 overs) and Prasidh Krishna (1/93 in 20 overs) spraying all over the place, only to be mercilessly punished by the former Proteas skipper Elgar and the lanky left-arm seamer Jansen.
The pair drove, pulled, cut at will and neither the old ball nor the semi-new ball could bring about any change in fortune for the visiting team bowlers.
Jasprit Bumrah (4/69 in 26.4 overs) and Mohammed Siraj (2/91 in 24 overs) once again were unlucky as they repeatedly beat the bat of Elgar and Jansen but didn’t have the rub of the green going their way.
Prasidh and Thakur were not only below-par but also missed both line and length.
Prasidh was inducted into the squad to hit the deck and generate extra pace off the surface, but he missed the trick by consistently bowling length balls. Even someone like Gerald Coetzee dispatched him into the stands.
On a track that demanded bowlers to bend their backs, Thakur literally floated the deliveries, which were hit all around the park. When he started using the short-ball tactic, Jansen hooked him for good as he didn’t have enough pace to hurry the batter.
The only bowler who came out with his reputation intact was Ravichandran Ashwin, who for most part, came from an angular run-up but ended with figures of 1/41 in 18 overs.
But, even his effort wasn’t enough as the Prasidh-Shardul duo, having already conceded nearly 200 runs (194 in 39 overs) cumulatively in less than 40 overs, have severely dented their team’s chance of redemption.
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