Agencies
Nagpur, Nov 26: Modern-day cricket has become so batsman oriented that the moment, the men with the wooden willows are under some pressure, a pall of gloom seems to affect the game. Fans forget that cricket is not always of fours and sixes, but also of bowlers – where on some days, the batsman will have to grit it out. Runs, runs and more runs have influenced cricket in such a way, that technique has taken a back seat as was evident during the second day of the India-South Africa third Test here Thursday at the Jamtha Stadium.
Twenty wickets fell on day two, the descriptions of which would probably take a full page of this newspaper. However, what became apparent was the inability of the batters to bear it out in the middle.
South Africa were bowled out for 79 runs in the first innings as Ravichandran Ashwin (5/32) and Ravindra Jadeja (4/33) ran through the order. Indian batsmen, quite a few of them also, perished in the second essay to some unnecessary shots – there was no reason for Shikhar Dhawan (39, 78b, 6×4) to go for the reverse sweep on a pitch of variable bounce and turn, for Virat Kohli (16) to play the lofted drive or for that matter, Ajinkya Rahane to play a slashing square-drive, a shot difficult even on a ‘true pitch’. It all boiled down to one thing – that once a batsman gets accustomed to easy runs, he is not ready to grind it out.
If South Africa were inept, so were the Indians, at least some of them. Cricket is also a mental game as it is of skills. It appeared that the visitors had reconciled to the fact that they will perish against the spinners. Both Ashwin and Jadeja took full advantage of that and bowled in tandem to reap rich rewards. Only JP Duminy (35, 65b, 1×4, 2×6) looked willing to stick it out, the rest simply perished due to their mental block against spin rather than the vagaries of the pitch.
Dean Elgar perished trying an expansive cut in the first over of the day to inside edge the ball on to his stumps. Hashim Amla went for the sweep to a ball outside his off-stump (wrong choice of shot) and the ball hit the back of his bat to lob into the hands of Rahane at slip and then AB de Villiers tried to work the ball against the spin and could only lob a return catch to Jadeja. It was 12 for five and the writing was on the wall. But then, the three could have easily avoided the ignominy of cheap dismissals had they applied the proper technique.
To be honest, the best technique during the game was demonstrated by Cheteshwar Pujara (31, 45b, 5×4) when India batted the second time around. He was either fully forward or right back, and that made him look solid till he played down the wrong line to part-timer Duminy. Dhawan may have top-scored for India, but then he never looked confident – something that usually happens with a man out of form.
Amla’s captaincy also was quite baffling. He banned Imran Tahir (5/38) to the boundary till India were close to the 100-run mark in their second essay. Once introduced into the attack in the 26th over of the innings, he quickly ran through the middle getting rid of Dhawan, Kohli and Rahane within the space of 11 runs and 23 balls. An earlier introduction would have probably benefitted South Africa – they would have been chasing a victory target of at least 20-25 runs than their current goal of 310.
At stumps, the visitors were on 32 for two with Elgar (10 batting) and Amla (three batting). They and the rest will have to bat out of their skins, if the Proteas want to avoid their first away series defeat in nine years. Tough ask that though.