India vs South Africa third Test: Will India’s Pant pay off on day 4?

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Cape Town has not been a happy ground for the Indian team. They have played there five times and have never won. But, paradoxically, some of India’s greatest away 100s, at least ones having maximum recall value over the last three decades or so, have come at the venue.

Sachin Tendulkar (twice) and Mohammad Azharuddin have shown it’s possible to thrive in the face of elite pace bowling. On Thursday, Rishabh Pant joined the above-mentioned duo by scoring a priceless ton when others treated the surface like lava.

The other 10 players, and extras, together contributed 110 off 44.2 overs. Pant, who remained unbeaten on 100, got his runs off 23.1 overs. Thanks to his innings, coupled with another patient Virat Kohli hand (29 off 143), India now have the chance to do something they have never done in 29 years and three months of playing cricket in South Africa. A series win.  

But it’s not going to be easy. On a pitch where scoring fast is possible, the hosts need only 111 runs, with eight wickets in the bank. India, though, will fancy their chances of winning from just about any position.

DRS leaves India bemused

Even if they did get Dean Elgar from what turned out to be the final ball of the day, tempers were running high. The captain and a few of the players had lost their heads after an lbw decision had been reversed by tracking technology.

Ravichandran Ashwin had seemingly trapped Elgar with the score on 60. It looked plumb in real-time, but tech had the ball missing the stumps. In the next 30 minutes or so, Kohli, KL Rahul and Ashwin — there may have been others as well — took out their frustration on the stump mic which has been ultra-loud throughout the series.

“You should find better ways to win, Supersport (host broadcaster),” Ashwin said. “Whole country against XI guys,” was Rahul’s sarcasm. Kohli went overboard hinting that the SA bowlers were ball-tampering.

“Focus on your (Supersport) team as well when they shine the ball, eh,” was his tangential take. It seemed like they didn’t know that the team managing the tech wasn’t the host broadcaster. To be fair, the umpire at the non-striker’s end, Marais Erasmus, called the ball-tracking ‘impossible’

That phase allowed the batters to score quickly. Elgar and Petersen, who has again looked very impressive, scored 35 off the next six overs to make a tricky target of 211 relatively small.

The third day, though, belonged to Pant who now has tons in South Africa, England, Australia and India (Adam Gilchrist is the only other wicket-keeper to have centuries in these countries). When he walked in, Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen were breathing flammable products.

At 58/4 (and a lead of just 71), it could have gone horribly pear-shaped.  What clicked for him this time is the way he bided his time initially. He shouldered arms to deliveries that were being angled across him. He refused to take the bait at wide deliveries.

Nine of his first 12 balls were dots as he took his time and got clued into the surface. If his innings so far this series was being played at 2x speed, the first 30 minutes or so of his stay here was being played at normal speed.

And once he got set, he went after the bowlers, especially, and this won’t be a surprise, Keshav Maharaj, with three sixes. Another six, with a horizontal bat that hit the boundary cushion at long-on, took the breath away. In the end, he also farmed the strike with the tail to stretch the target beyond 210.

Will it be enough to conquer the final frontier? Friday’s first session will tell.

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