India vs South Africa 2019, 2nd Test: Three talking points from day 2
India and South Africa are currently locking horns in the second Test at Pune. The first Test of the three-match series was won convincingly by India and they are on track to prevail once again.
Continuing on at their overnight score of 273-3, India amassed a massive 601-5 declared. This formidable score was compiled thanks to Virat Kohli’s textbook 254 not out and Ravindra Jadeja’s valuable 91 runs.
Umesh Yadav (playing his first test since December 2018) then took two quick wickets to leave the South Africans on 36-3 at stumps.
It was certainly a highly-entertaining day of cricket. Without further ado, here are three talking points from day two.
#3 Rabada and Philander’s testing spell
Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander are two world-class bowlers. Although they operate in two completely different ways, both have a patent knack of testing a batsman’s ability.
This is precisely what occurred in the first 45 minutes of the day’s play.
The batsmen were Virat Kohli and Ajinka Rahane. It was an absorbing duel between the bowlers and batsmen and it had the fans’ eyes glued to the action.
Rabada and Philander put in a lion-hearted effort. They bowled the majority of their deliveries on a fifth stump line, giving the batsmen no respite, hoping to lure the pair into playing a false shot. But Kohli and Rahane did not take the bait and left most of the deliveries. They were very disciplined with their decision-making, even when the runs dried up and the pressure mounted (Rahane was 0 off 16 balls at one stage).
Eight overs into the day, Rabada was taken out of the attack and the mini-battle was won by India.
Kohli and Rahane went on to accrue a match-winning partnership of 178 runs.
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