It will not be too different from the pitches we have seen so far in the series.
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Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had opener Stiaan van Zyl caught in the slips for a duck before nightwatchman Imran Tahir was bowled by Ravindra Jadeja for four. Hashim Amla’s side now have had time to recover and regroup and Kirsten expects a fierce reaction in Nagpur on Wednesday.
World’s top-ranked Test side South Africa arrived on the Indian shores with the reputation of being an invincible team, as they did not lose a single series away from home since suffering a 0-2 defeat in Sri Lanka in 2006.
“Guys have admitted to the fact that we made a few errors, especially in that first Test in Mohali”.
“We have not played our best cricket”, Amla said as the tourists limped to 184 and 109 in Mohali and made 214 on the first day at Bangalore.
South Africa too was grappling with selection dilemmas, but of a completely different kind. So this does not surprise us at all. “So I chose to bowl a little faster to hurry the batsmen”.
India will start as favourites to wrap up the series after South Africa s pace spearhead Dale Steyn was sidelined again for the third Test which starts in Nagpur on Wednesday. “The issue has been more with the lack of runs than the lack of wickets”.
In his next over, Morkel bowled another outswinger and this time, Kohli feathered an edge to the keeper to leave India struggling at 116 for five.
Dhawan and Vijay put on 50 for the first wicket before South Africa hit back to remove both batsmen in the space of 19 runs.
Dhawan was taken out by left-arm spinner Dean Elgar after a 68-minute stay, inducing a drive by luring out the left hander and pouching the return catch with glee.
Vijay (40) looked in control during his knock before he was done in by a Morne Morkel delivery that straightened after pitching to hit the batsman plumb in front of the wicket.
Cheteshwar Pujara became the first scalp for Harmer – in the line-up ahead of Kyle Abbott – early in the afternoon session when he was trapped lbw playing across the line for 21.
Ajinkya Rahane (13) counter-attacked with a six but an inswinger from Morkel flummoxed him and ended up uprooting the off stump. Indian Skipper Virat Kohli was no different in today’s game.
India also beefed up its batting with Rohit Sharma while dropping allrounder Stuart Binny and pace bowler Varun Aaron.
It was no coincidence that South Africa won the middle session through the pressure built by Morkel, Rabada and Simon Harmer.
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Off spinner Simon Harmer, dropped from the team in the drawn Bengaluru Test after playing in the series opener at Mohali, supported him with a fine haul of 4 for 78, by getting good purchase off the turning track.
