CENTURION: This Test has already seen predictions being blown hot and cold. What lies ahead for India on the final day is a herculean task. No team has ever chased a total of more than 249 to win a Test here at Supersport Park. India is three wickets down with only 35 on the board and need a further 252 runs to win. Their only batsman to cross fifty in this Test — Virat Kohli — is already back in the pavilion, consumed by a delivery that kept low.
More than the runs that lie ahead of them, it is the low-bounce, particularly from the river-end, that will challenge the Indians the most. It is hard for a batsman to forget deliveries like this, especially when you play and miss one that keeps low and find another one pitched on the same length climb up. The latter is what troubled the South African batsmen, but given the hosts’ bowling arsenal, those deliveries that are bound to keep low from the good length are going to cause problems for Indians on the final morning.
“Did not expect that the ball to keep so low on this wicket. Till now in overseas conditions, we haven’t seen such slow and low keeping wickets. So I don’t know what they were thinking when they made this wicket. But okay, whatever it is, we have to play on it and the conditions are the same for both teams. Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will try to win,” Mohammed Shami said.
On pitches like this, batsmen need to commit themselves to either playing completely forward or from the crease. The failure to do that is what cost Murali Vijay and Kohli their wickets. They both wanted to be positive, get on the front-foot and defend off the back. But choosing to play from the crease to length balls is what left both of them looking at the pitch after their dismissals. KL Rahul, survived one like that, but he fell to another similar one as a loose shot ended his miserable stay in the middle.
The Indians have even preferred to shield their No 5 Rohit Sharma, hoping that once the new ball loses the shine, runs will be easy to come by if a partnership builds. That job is now in the hands of Cheteshwar Pujara and Parthiv Patel, who was promoted up the order. If the think-tank’s decision is based on the theory that having a left-hander in the middle will never allow South Africa quicks to settle into a rhythm, it is quite understandable. Patel was padded up the moment the openers were in the middle. But questions will continue to remain over a specialist batsman being held back when the situation demanded gutso and character.
Karthik in for injured Saha
Indian wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha was on Tuesday ruled out of the third and final Test against South Africa due to a hamstring injury and will be replaced by Dinesh Karthik.
Saha, who is not part of the team playing the ongoing second Test here, picked up the injury while training on January 11. The third and final Test of the series is will be held in Johannesburg from January 24.
The 32-year-old Karthik has played 23 Tests for India but his last five-day appearance for the team was back in 2010 against Bangladesh. He has 51 catches and five stumpings to his credit.