India miffed due to early start

CENTURION: The Indian team management complained to match referee Chris Broad about early resumption of play after a rain-break in the third session on Day Three. After bad light stopped play around 4.46 local time, Virat Kohli, head coach Ravi Shastri and team manager Sunil Subramaniam headed to the match-referee’s room with the team visibly upset over conditions.

During the third session, when Indian bowlers were getting the team back into the game, a storm caused a 40-minute stoppage. Though the groundstaff were quick, the outfield was visibly wet as assistant coach Sanjay Bangar touched the grass and showed the team what they were up against.

On resumption, it didn’t take much time for India to inform the umpires about the ball being wet. However, with the umpires insisting on carrying on with play, the Indian bowlers struggled with the wet ball as the ball had stopped swinging. With sunlight back, they soon found the swing, as Jasprit Bumrah beat AB de Villiers thrice in three balls, before umpires took the players off citing bad light.

“Yeah the ball was swinging a little bit later. The field was initially wet, both sides of the ball got wet so the ball didn’t swing. We were just having a word with the umpire about what could be done in that situation,” Bumrah said at the end of play. Sources in the team revealed that India were not keen on taking the field in the first place.