Mohammed Shami delivered the final blows, collecting 5-28 as South Africa went from 124-1 to 177 all out. AP
Around 10.30 am while the heavy roller was moving on the Wanderers pitch, two of India’s coaches — Sanjay Bangar and Bharat Arun — stood near two good length spots at each end. For close to 10 minutes, the red and black heavy machine, aptly called the Stampede, while crawling between the wickets, kept pressing down the area with loose soil from where the ball had been rising alarmingly all day yesterday.
The pitch flaws that had seen Day 3 being shortened by the umpires, players’ safety being the reason for early stumps, were being ironed out. Bangar and Bharat waited for the rolling to get over.
Later, Bangar and Jasprit Bumrah would go and feel the roughs, or the former roughs. Maybe, they were checking if the new-look and freshly-pressed pitch had gone to sleep. Actually, it had.
Wanderers woke up late on Saturday. This proved to be a game of two halves. The first session and half had 91 runs and no wicket, the second had 53 runs and 9 wickets. India were rewarded for sticking out there and not giving up. The pace department — which has been outstanding in this series — kept running hard. They would get rewarded. The Test, which seemed on brink of being abandoned on Friday, proved to be memorable for India. India’s 63-run win proved that this isn’t a side that succumbs under pressure or gives up when trailing. By winning on the most difficult track of the series, the 2-1 series scoreline became respectable.
However, it didn’t seem things were going their way in the first session. The pitch seemed to have eased and the batsmen, forget getting hit, were not even getting beaten.
The late start, because of the wet outfield in the early morning, too had a role to play in the ball not quite rising to the levels it had done yesterday. For overnight batsmen Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla, batting was easy as compared to what they faced late last evening.
Maybe, it was the pitch, the weather, the Indian bowling’s lack of penetration or a combined influence of all three; but the ball wasn’t really rearing up and the team physio didn’t have to rush to the ground as often as yesterday. Elgar and Amla added 119 for the second wicket, a partnership which gave South Africa hope.
For the Indian bowlers, it was a challenge to bowl to Elgar and Amla, South Africa’s left-and-right combination with a very contrasting approach to batting. Amla stands way outside the crease and follows it up with a big back and across shuffle. Elgar likes to be stationed on the crease. Amla is mostly parked on the off-stump or outside off when facing the ball, with his middle and leg exposed. Elgar on the other hand, stands bang in front of the stumps, not allowing bowlers a view of their target.
The Indian pace attack just couldn’t get it right against the two. Elgar would mostly play the ball behind square, hoping to keep down the rising ball and play them towards point. Amla, meanwhile, was continuing from where he left in the first innings. Anything full on his legs, was sent to the square leg. And deliveries which were short and outside off, punched through the covers.
It was only after Amla got out, once again failing to keep that flick off the legs on the ground, that India came back in the game. Interestingly, that was also the time when the cracks that were hard-pressed in the morning were gradually opening. Plus the Indians bowlers too were finding their rhythm.
Even as the wickets fell from the other end, Elgar didn’t quite give in. He never does. After the Centurion Test match, where he had a big role to play in South Africa’s win, he had spoken about his strength. “Test cricket is 70 per cent mental and 30 per cent what you can do on the park. I was never gifted with the amount of talent but I was gifted with something between the ears,” he had said.
He wasn’t just taking on the Indian pacers but he also had to deal with the chatter from behind the stumps. Elgar and India have a past. A couple of years back, when South Africa toured India, Elgar, very early in the series, had got into a war of words with the Indians. At the end of the first day’s play of the opening Test at Mohali, he was categorical in saying that ‘this wasn’t a good cricket pitch’. This led Ashwin to counter him and the battle would continue all through the series.
Even in the away series here, Elgar and India would continue with their on-pitch conversations. Elgar would confirm that things got carried over from the India tour. “It’s pretty sure they did. It’s a competition between players who are feisty and want to win. You are going to try and do anything to win for your side when you come up against a tough opposition, and we definitely have now.”
Even on Friday, when Elgar was hit on his fingers, there were murmurs from behind. The stump mic would clearly hear one of the Indians says, “Naatak kar raha hai, bat pe laga hai.” However, the fielding side was worried about his safety when he was hit on the head. Ajinkya Rahane had come to check on him. But still they didn’t think, that the pitch was dangerous.
On Saturday, the tide had turned. Elgar had a chance to give it back to India. He could have had the last laugh. But he didn’t get support from his team mates.
The battle to have the ‘last laugh’ or the ‘last word’ will resume till the time the two teams meet again.