RANCHI: Minutes before resumption of play on Day 2 of the third Test between India and South Africa here at the JSCA International Stadium Complex in Ranchi on Sunday, pacer Kagiso Rabada spoke to the official broadcaster and said their immediate plan was to control flow of runs.
With India posting 224/3 on the first day and centurion Rohit Sharma at the crease, the plan needed to be executed to perfection if the Proteas wished to make a comeback.
Unfortunately for the visitors, their bowlers failed to deliver. The hosts scored briskly in the first session accumulating 133 runs from 27 overs at an impressive rate of 4.93 to take the game away.
Even though they lost Ajinkya Rahane (115), the platform provided by the Mumbai duo gave enough freedom to the batsmen to follow to flex their muscles and put a mammoth total on the board.
For the record, India scored 273 runs in 58.3 overs on the second day before declaring at 497/9. Ravindra Jadeja (51) registered yet another half-century while Umesh Yadav hit 31 off just 10 balls with the help of five sixes.
Umesh, along with Mohammed Shami, then quickly removed openers — Dean Elgar (0) and Quinton de Kock (4) reducing South Africa to 9/2 before play was called off for the second consecutive day due to bad light. Given the start they got, South Africa will need to deliver something special to save the match and the responsibility lies with captain Faf du Plessis, who is unbeaten on 1.
Left-arm spinner George Linde, who claimed four wickets for Proteas, admitted the team started badly and lacked consistency. “Obviously, consistency is very important. (It) was a bad start. It’s not the way we wanted it to go but tomorrow is another day. We’re not going to sit back and relax. We are going to go forward and try to take the challenge,” he said.
Earlier, Rahane completed his first century at home since 2016 and eleventh overall as Sharma and he continued to punish the hapless South African bowling attack. They were particularly harsh on pacer Lungi Ngidi in the morning session. Playing his first Test on Indian soil, he was taken to the cleaners in his first spell of three overs wherein he leaked 22 runs. With the fast bowlers failing to impress, skipper Du Plessis opted for spinners Linde and off-spinner Dane Piedt. The move did the trick as the former accounted for Rahane. The pair added 267 runs for the fourth wicket.
Rahane’s wicket failed to put a brake on the run-flow as Rohit and Jadeja scored quickly adding 50 off just 58 balls for the fifth wicket. India went into lunch with 357 runs on the board and Rohit one run shy of his maiden double century.
Rabada and Ngidi bowled two maiden overs soon after lunch, delaying the inevitable but the moment arrived in next over as Rohit slammed a six off Ngidi to cross the mark much to the delight of the Ranchi crowd. The batsman, however, was caught at the fine leg boundary while playing a hook shot off Rabada soon after reaching the milestone.
The opener broke a slew of records en route his 212-run knock. He now averages 99.84 in Tests at home, the best among all batsmen with 10-plus innings. Australian legend Don Bradman is second in the list with an average of 98.22. The right-hand batsman has also accumulated 529 runs in the series so far, the most by an India opener in a Test rubber since Virender Sehwag’s 544 against Pakistan in 2005.