CENTURION: It didn’t take much of time for India’s bowlers to get their acts right after they saw South Africa recover from 12/3 to 286 in the first innings in Cape Town. Even pacer Jasprit Bumrah admitted that they’d bowled too full, similar to what they’re used to doing at home. But once they figured that it didn’t work, they came back strongly, and found bite on a track that suited their style of bowling.
But the batsmen? This is where the worry starts and ends for India. Twice at Newlands their batting, which has its own faults and weakness, was exposed so brutally by the hosts’ pace attack that South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has called for quicker tracks for the second Test.
The groundsmen at SuperSport Park seemed to have obliged him, albeit with a shaved pitch that won’t produce as much seam movement as the first Test. But India won’t be breathing easy either, especially after what they experienced during their three-and-a-half-hour stint on Thursday at the practice wickets.
If including Shikhar Dhawan was a wrong move, India already seem to have corrected it, going by the net session. KL Rahul was the one who batted with Murali Vijay, in adjacent nets.
No 3 Cheteshwar Pujara — the only batsman who looked solid in Cape Town — was assured as ever and tackled the bounce so well that it drew applause from other batsmen. Barring one close-range short delivery from assistant coach Sanjay Bangar, he hardly broke a sweat.
But that wasn’t the case with captain Virat Kohli, who was found out twice against movement and bounce outside off-stump in Cape Town.
If that seemed to be an anomaly, his struggles continued as Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Hardik Pandya troubled him to no end. The trio beat him repeatedly with late movement and even induced three edges in 20 minutes. As for Rahul playing ahead of Dhawan, the decision seems more or less made as the former was practicing slip-catching with Rohit Sharma.
The bowlers were on the mark, adjusting their lengths. Struggling to alter it was what undid them in first innings of the first Test, as they mostly bowled full. On pitches with bounce and movement, back of length is the preferred target.
It is not a drastic change to make, but seeing Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami do it ease should give India hope.
“It’s always challenging in a new country. The wickets are different, and so is the weather. It’s always good to face new challenges. As you play more, you get to know a lot about the wickets. You get a fair idea about where to bowl and what kind of lines to use,” said Bumrah.
“In the first innings, we thought we bowled a little fuller than normal, because in India we have to pitch it fuller to get some swing and draw batsmen forward. We analysed the difference here and tried to adapt that in the second innings. As a unit, we were able to create pressure. Hopefully, we will see videos of these wickets, what happens over here and we will plan accordingly.”
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com