The South African batsmen applied themselves better against the below-par Indian bowling attack. And then Rohit Sharma and Co. collapsed to 131 all out in their second innings inside 35 overs when they needed 163 runs to force the hosts to bat again. South Africa won the first Test by an innings and 32 runs that lasted about 210 overs at SuperSport Park, Centurion, last week.
India’s batsmen showed they were not good enough to take this match into the fourth day. Eyeing their first-ever Test series win in the Rainbow Nation, now they can at best draw this two-Test series.
South Africa got 152-4 in 42.4 overs on the day. Virat Kohli got 76 off 86 balls and other nine Indian wickets contributed a mere 47 in 20-odd overs.
Two dismissals via two superb balls and their implications underlined the importance of timing. When Bumrah cartwheeled Rabada’s off-stump with a ball that angled in and zipped away, it was too late to have any significant impact on the tone of the match. SA had already crossed 390 runs by then. On the other hand, Rabada clipping Rohit Sharma’s offstump set the tone. It was the seventh time Rabada had removed Rohit in Tests.
South Africa had taken a decisive step to winning the Test by clinching the 150-minute first session, getting 135-2 in 34 overs and setting up a platform to bat India out of the game. Led by Dean Elgar’s big hundred (185), South Africa accumulated 408.
With the pitch offering something for the pacemen, Indian bowlers were expected to fare better. The absence of Shami, the inexperience of debutant Prasidh Krishna and the part-time quality of medium pacer Shardul Thakur was apparent. India could not put together even decent patches of energy, effort and imagination.