FORT CENTURION ABOUT TO FALL

Batters Fold For 174 But India Get The Pace Boost. SA Can Only Hope For A Miracle On Treacherous Pitch

- Partha Bhaduri

Jassi, yeh dekh, yeh dekh yahan pe crack hai!” Virat Kohli was his usual animated self, gesticulating, leaping around, offering suggestions to his pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and generally betraying wild excitement at the prospect of having the weapons at his disposal to exploit the inconsistencies of the Centurion pitch.

Yet again, India’s commanding pace pack did not disappoint. Smelling blood, they closed in for the kill, but the heavy roller, cleverly opted for by South Africa, had momentarily tamed the demons in the surface.

The late afternoon sun and the softer ball blunted India’s charge and took the cracks out of play. There’s something to be said, after all, for local knowledge of conditions.

With the variable bounce somewhat subdued, South Africa’s captain Dean Elgar (batting 52; 122b; 7x4) played a valiant hand and Rassie van der Dussen hung in there by the skin of his teeth in the last session on Wednesday. They fought tooth and nail, thrusting and parrying, getting right behind the line of the ball to keep disaster at bay.

With the tension building, it was up to Bumrah to work his magic again and break the stubborn stand. Replacing Ashwin in the 37th over, he used the width of the crease and got one to cut back in miles from back of a length. Van der Dussen, mystified, could only shoulder arms.