JOHANNESBURG: A rare Test win in South Africa is well within India’s reach. The uneven pitch raised concerns over the future of the Test as umpires took the players away with 65 minutes remaining on Day 3. However, after match referee Andy Pycroft held meetings with the teams, first at the ground and then at the hotel, the official confirmation of play resuming on Saturday came at around 7.53pm local time.
It was a drama, that could have been avoided. Early in the morning session when Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli took a couple of blows to their fingers from balls that kicked up from good length. The scene was repeated in the second session when Ajinkya Rahane was batting, following which Pycroft called the managers of the two teams for a meeting at tea.
“The match referee called me at tea time and said that in case the wicket got dangerous, both captains would be consulted. We were of the that the wicket has been the same all three days. Today we had the highest strike rates. We would like to continue playing. The match referee feared that in case the new ball was taken, it might behave dangerously. The ball that hit Dean Elgar on his helmet was the reason play was called off. We are willing to play. Umpires are the final judges,” said India manager Sunil Subramaniam.
South Africa manager Mohammad Moosajee said similar things, but the Indian team believes that the pitch was nowhere close to dangerous, although they found it challenging. “The wicket was definitely challenging, but our openers batted so well. The wicket was similar for both teams. Vijay got 25 and faced 130-140 balls. It was the same for everyone. Our approach was that we want to play and win this Test. Yes, the odd ball we got hit on the hand or the glove, but that’s the nature of the wicket,” said Rahane.
Though each time a player took a knock, umpires Ian Gould and Aleem Dar had discussions with the batsmen, Rahane revealed that at no time were they asked to discontinue. “They were telling me ‘If you want to call the physio, you can call Patrick (Farhart) and take your time. Don’t be in a hurry.’ But see, this is the wicket they (South Africa) prepared. We also batted, our openers also batted. We struggled a lot, but it is similar for both teams. So we cannot complain about this. Our aim is to win this match,” said Rahane.
Asked if he found the pitch dangerous, Rahane cited the examples of playing on extreme wickets in Mumbai’s Kanga League. “You cannot call it a dangerous wicket just because Elgar got hit. We never complained. We never told them to prepare a track like this. They did and we want to play.”
venkatakrishna@newindianexpress.com