CENTURION: In hindsight, it is easy to wonder if India allowed South Africa to score a bit more than they would have liked. But when the last South Africa batsman Lungi Ngidi fell, Virat Kohli did a fist-pump, believing that the target — 287 — was very much within reach. But, despite the bowlers putting in an impressive performance on an unresponsive pitch, things could have been different for India had Kohli managed his bowling resources well.
In the morning session, with the ball showing signs of reversing, Kohli chose to begin with Ishant Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah, two contrasting bowlers. If Bumrah was targeting the spot, which accounted for Aiden Markram and Hashim Amla’s wickets, Ishant was landing it on the good length areas, expecting the ball to bounce. That they bowled these lines when the ball was reversing made little sense as AB de Villiers and Dean Elgar found it easy to negotiate them.
Before Bumrah could find his rhythm, Ravichandran Ashwin was brought in, but unlike the first-innings, where the off-spinner had little pockets to operate, the slow nature of the wicket had made it easy for the batsmen to play him of the backfoot. The odd-ball turned, but it wasn’t harming them. After Ishant bowled five, Mohammed Shami was brought in when the two overnight batsmen had settled down in the middle.
Shami’s introduction gave India an immediate result as his length, ideal for pitches like this where the ball climbed off the length, along with reverse-swing, resulted in De Villiers edging one to Parthiv Patel. Then he removed Elgar with a short-ball, one that surprised the left-hander as he saw an opportunity to score, but only connected it straight to square-leg.
With momentum on his side, Shami began running in hard. There has probably been few better sights for Indians than Shami steaming-in at full throttle, with the old ball listening to what he says. In his next over, he found the edge of Quinton de Kock thrice in a row, and each one went through the slip cordon for four. A pacer was making things happen on a supposed lifeless track. If you thought it was over, Shami found the edge again off the fourth, and this time the edge settled into Parthiv Patel’s gloves.
Then in the two more overs he operated before lunch, he appeared to get a wicket every time he ran-in, attacking the two new batsmen — Faf Du Plessis and Vernon Philander, as Bumrah was called to carry the team to lunch. If one hoped Shami would begin proceedings after lunch, he bowled only one over during the entire session, the last one before tea as Ishant, Hardik Pandya and Bumrah were preferred to bowl with an old-ball that Shami had mastered.
“It depends on the captain when he wants to bowl you and when he wants to bowl with another bowler,” Shami said. “It also depends on the conditions, I suppose. I bowled before lunch so I couldn’t bowl immediately, that is what the captain might be thinking. He was also looking to rotate the bowlers.”
It wasn’t the only occasion where Shami was taken off when he was in his rhythm. Even in the post-tea session after he dismissed Kagiso Rabada, and stood with a good chance of picking up a five-fer, he was replaced the next over with Ashwin given the ball. “There are some stages in a match when you want to bowl more but the captain thinks that we should get them out quickly. So you cannot mind. But yes, sometimes you do feel inside that maybe I could have got five wickets,” Shami said.
May be Kohli could have been proactive when it came to rotating the bowlers, like he did on Day One, knowing who to bring on and telling them who to attack. But asking your most experienced bowler, Ishant, to bowl defensive lines, when he was extracting unpredictable bounce meant India leaked runs at the other end. While Du Plessis and Philander were taking South Africa to safety, it was the Delhi speedster, who pulled his side back.
For a bowler who picked the most wickets (4), Shami bowled only 16 overs, the least among all front-line pacers. With India losing both openers and Kohli himself, the skipper probably needed to be little more flexible especially when each run afforded to the hosts might seem a lot more on the final day.
SCORECARD
South Africa 1st innings: 335
India first innings: 307
South Africa, second innings (overnight 90-2):
D Elgar c Rahul b Mohammed Shami 61, De Villiers c Patel b Mohammed Shami 80, De Kock c Patel b Mohammed Shami 12, Du Plessis c and b Bumrah 48, V Philander c Vijay b I. Sharma 26, K Maharaj c Patel b I. Sharma 6, K Rabada c Kohli b Mohammed Shami 4, M Morkel n.o 10, L Ngidi c Vijay b Ashwin 1.
Extras (b2, lb5, w1) 8. Total (91.3 overs) 258.
Fall of wickets: 3-144, 4-151, 5-163, 6-209, 7-215, 8-245, 9-245.
Bowling: Ashwin 29.3-6-78-1, Bumrah 20-3-70-3 (1w), I. Sharma 17-3-40-2, Mohammed Shami 16-3-49-4, Pandya 9-1-14-0. India second innings: M Vijay b Rabada 9, L Rahul c Maharaj b Ngidi 4, C Pujara (batting) 11, V Kohli lbw b Ngidi 5, P Patel (batting) 5.
Extras (b1) 1. Total (3 wkts, 23 overs) 35.
Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-16, 3-26. Bowling: Philander 6-3-6-0, Rabada 5-2-9-1, Ngidi 6-2-14-2, Morkel 5-3-4-0, Maharaj 1-0-1-0.
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com