South Africa’s arrival in India could have been a little better had their middle order sustained more than two sessions. Despite a decent start given by the openers – Ryan Rickleton and Aiden Markram —
the promising start after the first hour was squandered. The Proteas batting unit failed to fire, registering just 159 in 55 overs – their second-lowest first-innings score against India.
Wiaan Mulder, Tony de Zorzi, and Kyle Verreynne all fell in similar fashion shortly after getting set. The collapse began immediately after lunch, triggered by the combined pressure of Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav. Sensing the emergence of reverse swing, Mohammed Siraj struck twice in a single over, trapping Verreynne lbw and bowling Marco Jansen.
Axar maintained the pressure, claiming Corbin Bosch with a straightening delivery. Ultimately, the tailenders failed to support specialist batter Tristan Stubbs, allowing Bumrah to tear through the lower order, securing two more wickets in one over to complete his 16th Test five-wicket haul and surpass Mohammad Shami’s tally.
Questions were plenty when South Africa batting coach Ashwell Prince spoke to the media after the stumps on Day 1. Surprisingly, the former Proteas batter failed to give one solid answer to address the visitors’ batting failure.
“When you look at the scorecard, quite a few of them will be disappointed at getting to 20 or 30 and then getting out. Firstly, we’ve got to give credit to the Indian bowlers, as a lot of them were pretty good. Secondly, my assessment of the surface is that the bounce is not consistent. The signs were there pretty early on in the first over,” Prince told the media.
“Quite often, when you expect batters to get to 20 or 30 and grow in confidence, I don’t particularly believe that any of the batters grew in confidence because of the inconsistency of the bounce. What can happen is that you don’t trust the surface as much as you should after spending an hour at the crease. And then, of course, when you face a quality bowling attack, they more often than not get the ball in the danger area, and it does too much for you. Unfortunately, that’s been the case today,” he added.
It was simply a display of poor shot selection by the South African batters. Eventually, the pressure creeped in and those who looked to repair the damage at one point, ended up throwing away their wickets. But the game isn’t over yet and the Proteas will have another shot to glory.
“I’m sure we’ll have some discussions about which type of options we can take—more aggressive options,” Prince said.
“Everybody’s got his own character and style. Most of the time, we ask people to play within their character, but obviously, we have to take the surface into consideration. Next time round, in the second innings, we have to play the conditions. These are the conditions; how can we be more effective on it? I’m sure we’ll have a discussion around that this evening,” he added.
Even India had their share of struggles, especially bagging under the setting sun with flood lights on. Keshav Maharaj made it tough for KL Rahul with turning deliveries. But patience took the hosts through those 15-20 minutes before stumps. Something that was lacking in South Africa’s approach.
So, is pitch the concern? Prince refrained from making any opinion, rather said it’s a matter of discussion.
“We didn’t want to make any assumptions about the pitch before the Indians had a chance to bat on it. They’ve faced about 60 deliveries, and it’s an awkward period to bat, which would suggest that it’s not a free-scoring pitch. Having said that, they still have nine wickets in hand, and there’s no rush for them in terms of time. From our point of view, we want them to have at least 150 to chase in the second innings, which means we’ll have to keep that lead as small as possible. Then, hopefully, we can set something up in the second innings,” Prince said.
‘Rabada Missed Big Time’
The South Africans are without their premium bowler, Kagiso Rabada, who was ruled out of the first Test due to a rib injury. While uncertainty looms over his participation in the Guwahati Test as well, the batting coach admitted that his absence has been felt already.
“He [Kagiso Rabada] is a world-class bowler, probably one of the top two or three seam bowlers in the world. We’ve seen what damage one of the other best seam bowlers in the world (Jasprit Bumrah) can do on that surface.”
“So, he’ll definitely be missed on this surface because I do think it is actually aiding the fast bowlers,” Prince said.
