Press Trust of India
New Delhi, Dec 3: Ajinkya Rahane (89 batting, 155b, 9×4, 2×6) stood tall amidst ruins with an unbeaten innings as the much vaunted top-order failed yet again with India reaching a shaky 231 for seven against South Africa on the opening day of fourth and final cricket Test, here Thursday.
Save for Rahane, who came back to form with a top quality knock and skipper Virat Kohli (44, 62b, 7×4), who looked in good touch, the other specialist batsmen did not make use of a slow but decent enough track for batting after the skipper had won the toss. Giving Rahane company was Ravichandran Ashwin (six batting) when umpires called off play, six overs before schedule due to bad light.
The tormentors for India were spinner Dane Piedt (4/101) playing his first Test of the series, and pacer Kyle Abott (3/23), who was economical as well as incisive with his swing bowling as South Africa sent down 84 overs during the day.
Rahane, who scored his first ever half century on home soil, kept his cool even as wickets tumbled at the other end. For the record, this is only the third half century by an Indian batsman in the series so far.
While he played second fiddle to Kohli during their stand, Rahane took charge once Wriddhiman Saha (1) was castled by Abbott’s reverse swing. He reached his 50 with a boundary to the mid-wicket fence off Piedt. Both Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja (24, 59b, 3×4) looked good as they added 59 runs for the seventh wicket to take India close to the 200-run mark.
However, Abbott, coming for his final spell of the day, got Jadeja to flick one as Dean Elgar snapped a smart catch at mid-wicket. The team’s 200 came in the 74th over when Rahane hit an Imran Tahir half-tracker towards mid-wicket boundary and followed it up with a lofted hit over mid-on.
Skipper Kohli’s promising innings was cut short by a freak dismissal while Rohit Sharma’s indiscreet shot selection compounded the home team’s problems on a Feroz Shah Kotla track which was far better than the ones provided at Mohali and Nagpur.
Kohli had raced to 44, his highest score in the series and looked good for more when he fell in abnormal circumstance. He hit a full-blooded sweep off Piedt, but to his horror, the ball popped up after rebounding off the thigh of forward short-leg fielder Temba Bavuma. Wicket-keeper Dane Vilas rushed from his position to dive forward and completed an impressive catch while Kohli could only rue his luck and walk back with disgust written on his face.
