Virat Kohli's gritty 85* stands between South Africa and victory
Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 85 kept India’s hopes alive in the series. He was never going to miss out on the most sub-continent like conditions that South Africa gifted India. He made full use of them. Pace, bounce and movement have time and again exposed Kohli’s technique. With all three out of the equation, he started batting more freely. But the rest of the batsmen were still jolted from the pounding at Newlands.
The high-quality pace quartet of Morkel, Philander, Rabada and Ngidi kept taking wickets at the other end. They bowled beautifully on a pitch that had no pace, bounce or lateral movement.
Morkel took a sharp return catch off his own bowling to dismiss Rahul. Due to the bounce that Morkel extracted, even a good length ball hit the bat high. Rahul wasn’t able to get on top of it due. The very next ball, Pujara tried to steal a run off the first ball that he faced and was run out for a duck, by a magnificent direct hit from the debutant Ngidi. Ngidi, all of 6'5", moved quickly from mid-on, got down and fired a bullet with a single stump to aim at.
Vijay repeatedly tried to cut the ball but was either beaten or found the fielder at backward point. Maharaj set him up nicely and Vijay fell into the trap. He tried to cut a ball too close to him and was out caught behind to Maharaj, after playing well for his 46.
Rabada was brought back into the attack immediately after Vijay's dismissal. He kept beating Kohli and Rohit with his outswingers. He beautifully set up his prey by dragging them across the crease. A vicious in-swinger then trapped Kohli in front, but he was adjudged not out. Rohit, who was roughed up pretty badly by Rabada in Newlands, looked completely out of sorts facing Rabada. Beaten for pace, he was dismissed just like the way he was at Newlands.
There was no respite for the Indian batsmen. Ngidi replaced Rabada and bowled even quicker than him. An inside-edge saved Kohli from being out lbw. Parthiv Patel was out caught behind to a beauty from Ngidi that angled in and nipped away for his maiden Test wicket.
Earlier in the day, South Africa resumed at 269/6. A fine 63 from Faf du Plessis helped South Africa post a total of 335 all out. Rabada was dropped twice which helped him forge a crucial partnership of 42 with du Plessis. India dropped as many as five catches, a reflection of how poor their fielding was.
India were 183/5 at stumps on day 2, trailing South Africa by 152 runs.