Bad light brought a slightly earlier end to the day’s play, as the Proteas aim to chase down 384 on day 5 of the 1st Test against India, writes Naeemah Benjamin.
South Africa wouldn’t mind that too much. They will resume on 11-1 after losing the wicket of Dean Elgar.
For a brief moment this morning, despite being 9 down South Africa never backed down. The last wicket stand of 35 between Senuran Muthusamy and Kagiso Rabada frustrated India. They cut their deficit of 117 to 71 runs.
India’s second innings started off slowly, just what SA would’ve hoped for. It was further halted by the early dismissal of the double centurion Mayank Agarwal.
Pujara’s scoring rate was somewhat pedestrian but after a few “words of encouragement” from fellow teammate Rohit Sharma he upped the ante and found the gaps easily after the drinks break. How quick did he change gears though?
He was on 8 (62) before the floodgates opened and the boundaries flowed all around the ground. He was bowled by Vernon Philander for 81 sharing in a 169-run stand with Sharma to put India in a dominant position.
Dane Piedt had a couple chances but to no avail. Then there was a catch on the boundary but the replay showed Muthusamy’s toe against the rope. The struggle of picking up wickets in the blazing heat continued.
Rohit Sharma in his first Test as an opener scored back-to-back hundreds putting India in a very comfortable position heading into the final day. When SA eventually got him out it was Kohli who strided to the crease to join Jadeja whom came in at No 4 to “attack”, presumably.
It was a brutal onslaught by the two batsmen, but the foundation was layed and they could play with freedom, finding the gaps regularly to stack on the runs.
The declaration was surprisingly a bit late as one would’ve assumed that anything over 320 would be enough but captain Kohli was probably thinking about the visitors first innings batting efforts and lasted until the 67th over to give SA only 13 overs to face, only getting through 9 overs before bad light intervened.
It’s going to be a tough but not impossible task for South Africa to try and survive 3 whole sessions on day 5 and with heavy rain predicted its going to be a cracker day’s play. South Africa wouldn’t mind that too much.
They will resume on 11-1.
