JOHANNESBURG: On a pitch that had every batsman struggling, one player batted without a worry for nearly four hours. Not that he was not been beaten, nor was he in a carefree world where he wasn’t tested by bowlers.
He was subjected to it all — like all other batsmen — but this Wanderers pitch needed someone with innovation and unorthodoxy. South Africa found that someone in Hashim Amla.
For a player who was labelled as a “reluctant captain”, Amla enjoys taking up responsibility. There is a reason behind why — like VVS Laxman — he is categorised as a good bad-wicket player. Like the Hyderabadi, Amla relies extensively on his wrists, and caresses the ball instead of thwacking it. This was a wicket which was testing the very best. On Day 1, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli had endured their own problems, before finding alternative ways to reach fifties.
Having watched those two bat from the slips, Amla would have definitely seen the challenge that lay ahead. Instead of going into a shell and patiently waiting for marginally bad balls like Pujara, or being adventurous like Kohli, Amla took another approach altogether. He played a game that was not totally his, adjusting his stance a bit to open up new areas for scoring; the most difficult thing to do on this track.
Innovation was needed to stop bowlers from targetting the short-of-good-length area.
Had Amla decided to not opt for that, he would have played into the hands of India’s pacers, who then would have quickly settled into a rhythm and landed the ball in areas that would keep asking questions.
Instead, Amla made them bowl where he intended. Time and again, when India’s speedsters kept peppering the good-length area, Amla bravely walked across the stumps. He started off by standing out of the crease. As the bowler ran in, his backfoot went behind, putting him in a perfect position. At the last moment, he walked across, taking lbw out of the equation.
Indians tried to trap him in front twice, but Amla’s big shuffles resulted in reluctance on the umpires’ part. When India reviewed two lbw decisions against him, both turned out to be ‘umpire’s call’, with the ball just about clipping the stumps.
By bringing his wrists into play, Amla used the large vacant space behind and front of square-leg. Unlike Pujara and Kohli, who collected most of their runs in front of square on the off-side, Amla’s came on either side. Not a single shot was in the ‘V,’ where the percentage of risk of was high.
Having dismissed Dean Elgar early, India’s bowlers were settling into a groove. But Amla arrived calmly, absorbed the pressure, found ways to remain in the middle for 239 minutes, and faced 121 deliveries on a wicket where even the enterprising AB de Villiers and the watchful Faf du Plessis struggled.
For a batsman who has the highest score in the match so far, Amla’s dismissal was the softest: flicking a harmless delivery into the hands of deep square-leg. He walked off to a standing ovation. On some other pitch, his 61 would have been worth a lot more.
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com