Some silver linings, but South Africa look to pick combination lock
VISAKHAPATNAM: This was always going to be a humongous task for South Africa. Especially after arriving in India with a side short on experience, brought about by their current rebuilding.
Despite being outplayed on the first two days of the first Test, their resilience with the bat in the first innings had taken the game to the final day. They knew Sunday had plenty of work in store; saving the game meant 13 points in the World Test Championship.
First-innings sentinel Dean Elgar was already gone. The onus was on the top-order to keep Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock in the dressing room as long as possible. But they found themselves so deep in trouble that an Indian win became a distinct possibility in the first session itself.
Debutant Senuran Muthusamy (49 n.o) and Dane Piedt (56) denied the inevitable for a couple of hours, but the hosts showed why India remains a tough place to tour. Since losing that Test series to England in 2012, India have become so dominant at home that they have lost only one of their 30 matches since.
Sans AB de Villiers and Hashim Amla, none in the present Proteas squad had made a century in India before this Test. That Elgar and De Kock got there in one innings should be encouraging. But if they are to compete in Pune, more needs to be done.
Theuis de Bruyn clearly struggles against spin. Temba Bavuma seem to bat as if his feet are tied with a rope. Du Plessis seems to be batting at least one position too low; though his reasoning of shepherding the tail makes a strong case now.
Despite being captain for a while, this is the first time Du Plessis is leading in India. It takes skippers time to adjust to the angles here, especially with regards to field setting. It was a very common sight to see him stand near the stumps and manoeuvre his players.
“I thought it was a real in the line in the sand for us... A lot of new players in our squad. There was an opportunity for us to go the other way and we didn’t,” said Du Plessis. “We played really well; seniors put their hands up. Quinny (De Kock) and Dean got fantastic hundreds. To get 400 in the subcontinent is never easy. It is just about consistently evolving and making sure that I can pick up one or two things.”
It is with the ball that South Africa need to look at other options. Their three-spinner gamble backfired spectacularly. The absence of a genuine all-rounder will leave Du Plessis with extra head-scratching, since he wants at least five bowlers. Leaving out Piedt for an extra seamer will see two left-arm orthodox spinners in the XI. Leaving out Muthusamy for Pune — considering the maturity he showed with the bat — will be tough call.
“From a combination point of view, it is difficult to say. Apart from today, seamers didn’t play that much of a role. Whether an extra seamer would have made a difference, I’m not sure. Definitely, on Day 5, we saw that there was huge value in seam. But that’s something for us to consider, moving into the next Test.”