CHENNAI: Virat Kohli has been here before. Quite a few times, in fact. Luckily, his 'Break Glass In Case Of Emergency' options are Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah. Under spotless skies at Cape Town, the duo swung the match, and by extension, the series, India's way.
Temba Bavuma and Keegan Petersen, who's fast building a reputation for himself, had strung together an eye-catching 47-run stand for the fifth wicket. What was concerning about the stand was the unhurried nature of it. The boundaries (four) and doubles (seven) were a constant source of irritation for the visitors who had seen their lead cut down to under 70.
Even if they consumed deliveries without scoring (the pair faced six maidens across 15 completed overs), the 'xx' in the 'lead by xx' number was coming down all the time.
That's when Kohli had seen enough. He removed the luckless Shardul Thakur and brought on Shami. In the context of the day, it was a big 30 minutes before tea. The Proteas were having visible designs on running up a healthy lead. 10 Shami balls later, those designs had been nipped in the bud.
All morning, Shami had a lovely curve on his deliveries. Bavuma, who has been driving on the up all through the series, felt for one such delivery. Kohli completed the rest with a low catch to his left. Two balls later, Kyle Verreynne was dismissed in similar fashion. The ball had a lovely shape to it and his unsure prod found the gloves of Rishabh Pant.
With one end opened up, Kohli, who at one point led the team through an elaborate rhythmic hand-clapping routine to gee up the fielders, brought back Jasprit Bumrah, who had already accounted for the dangerous Aiden Markram in the first over of the day. After softening up Marco Jensen with a few short balls — a somewhat predictable length after what happened at Johannesburg — he moved the radar subtly to the back of a good length area.
The end result was a peach that hit the top of off with Jensen's bat not even in the same postcode. A few overs after tea, he accounted for Petersen as well with a ball that had extra bounce on it and it caught the edge of the blade before settling in the hands of Cheteshwar Pujara at first slip. The innings ended, perhaps fittingly, with Bumrah claiming a fifer, his seventh since making his debut at the same venue four years ago.
Far superior keyboards have espoused the virtues of India's fast-bowling riches and Wednesday offered another example as to why they are so gun, so lethal, even when the game is seemingly slipping away. The bowlers can bowl long spells, they can bowl dry spells but, most importantly, they are all masters at creating multiple wicket-taking opportunities within a short span of time.
Even when batting sides string together what looks like match-defining partnerships, a wicket-ball is always around the corner. They are patient and have a lot of belief in their own methods. For want of a better phrase, think of them as highly-trained machines who seldom make errors. On the occasions when they do make them, they course correct rather quickly.
They also learn quickly, study the surface and adapt to the conditions. Since the beginning of the England tour (13 bowling innings), the opposition batters have had only 17 partnerships in excess of 50 (four of those in excess of 100) outside India. To further paint a picture about how much India relies on their bowlers to win them matches, of the 17, seven came in the two losses (three in Leeds and four in Johannesburg). In other words, if they turn up, India win.
On Wednesday, they again turned up when their captain needed them the most. The onus is now on the batters to stretch that lead.