Nagpur: India is struggling after deciding to b
at first.
At the end of the eighth over on the first morning, when Hashim Amla brought on his spinners, the Nagpur pitch looked like it had been played on for days. The dry surface, spider-webbed like a cracked windshield, had already developed significant rough patches because of the bowlers’ follow-throughs, and where the new ball had not seamed, swung or bounced for the quicks, the pitch offered sharp turn at varying height for the spinners.
Had there been a little more pace in it, the surface would have been near unplayable, but already it was a pitch on which a batsman was never going to be at ease. After Virat Kohli won a crucial toss, India’s openers M Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan adopted the technique of playing the ball late and from the crease, using the time South Africa took to learn what lines and lengths to bowl on this pitch to score their second consecutive half-century stand. Under the circumstances, it was an invaluable start.
South Africa’s fast bowlers pitched too short in their first spells. While they were quick through the air, their deliveries slowed drastically after pitching, and the batsmen were given the luxury of time. One short of a length delivery from Morkel took so long to arrive that Vijay simply hung back and swatted it to the wide mid-on boundary. Even the attempted short balls from Kagiso Rabada, who had harried the Indian batsmen in the limited-overs games, were easily dealt with by Dhawan. There was no carry to the wicketkeeper.
India were 33 for 0 when offspinner Simon Harmer, playing ahead of Kyle Abbott, and left-armer Dean Elgar began their tandem act. There were frequent puffs of dust, and balls spun sharply to beat the bat or hit the pad, but Elgar’s pace was a bit too slow for the surface, while Harmer’s line from round the wicket to the right-handers was too straight for the lbw to come into play.
Vijay was lucky to survive when he charged Harmer and missed, the ball grazing his inside edge and beating the wicketkeeper Dane Vilas by a long way, but he attempted the shot again two deliveries later and cleared long-on. The 50 partnership came up in 13.4 overs, but the wicket came soon after.
Dhawan stepped out of his crease and pushed too hard at a slow one from Elgar, the turning delivery lobbing back off the inside edge to the bowler, who dived across the stumps to take a sharp catch. While Elgar and Harmer bowled economically, Imran Tahir’s first two overs were a disappointment – a full toss and long hop allowed Cheteshwar Pujara to flick and cut to the boundary.
When Morkel returned for his second spell, he bowled much fuller lengths and was immediately a greater threat than he had been with the new ball. Hanging back in the crease was more dangerous now and Vijay was lbw – hit on the knee roll by the fullest delivery Morkel had bowled until then, one that straightened and kept so low, rendering it unplayable.
India were 115 for 4 after 38 overs of play and Rohit Sharma and Kohli are on the crease. With three spinners in his attack, Kohli will be desperate to make this first innings count, and a total of around 300 would go a long way towards ending South Africa’s nine-year unbeaten run away from home.
