India v South Africa 4th Test, Day 3 Review: Kohli-Rahane partnership deflates South Africa

Morne Morkel and Kyle Abbott started brilliantly for South Africa bowling tight lines with high intensity. Morkel, in particular, looked dangerous and made life uncomfortable for the Indian batsmen. He took two wickets off successive deliveries in the first session to leave India 8 for 2. A vicious bouncer from the tall fast bowler first accounted for Vijay’s catch by Villas behind the wicket, though the right-hander was not pleased at all, indicating that it came off the arm guard. Rohit Sharma was sent ahead of Pujara, however, failed again being bowled by a peach of a delivery. The Mumbai batsman’s place in the Test team is again going to generate a lot of debate.

Watch: Morne Morkel gets rid of Murali Vijay and Rohit Sharma off consecutive balls

India had to fight hard and Dhawan batted as cautiously as he had done in the first innings, leaving the balls outside off stump, taken a couple of blows off awkwardly bouncing deliveries from Abbott and Imran Tahir, and moved to 21 off 85 when Morkel bowled a perfect yorker which the southpaw couldn’t keep at bay. Pujara, who was trying to survive as hard as Dhawan, fell three overs later. He was bowled for the third time in successive innings. Tahir rattled his stumps with a flatter, quicker leg-break that left the right-hander playing the trajectory rather than the length and in the process playing back to a ball he should have been forward to. India was 57 for 4 and needed a solid effort from Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane.

With the lead being 270 at this stage, India was still in the driver’s seat but the Proteas might have sensed a distant sort of hope. Kohli and Rahane batted with composure to put the game beyond South Africa’s reach. Both, though, had some jittery moments before settling down. South Africa’s bowlers made them work hard for their runs. Both batsmen timed the ball better than the top order and whenever possible, made the most of any scoring opportunities on offer.

A big-spinning leg-break from Tahir seemed to have got him Kohli wicket when umpire Bruce Oxenford upheld the visitors’ caught-behind appeal, but a check for no-ball showed the bowlers heel had landed beyond the crease. Further replays also suggested Kohli had not edged the ball. He survived, but might still have to face the match referee for his reaction after the initial decision. He refused to walk off, glared at the umpire and muttered a few words under his breath. M Vijay too might have gone into the match referee’s notebook, when Kumar Dharmasena gave him out caught behind off Morkel. His first reaction was to point at his arm guard and such gesturing to the umpire hardly goes unnoticed by the match officials.

Rahane also had some nervy moments against spinners. He preferred to play them off the back foot, as he had done in the first innings, but was not playing as straight as he did that time. Morkel though continued to pose most problems. Coming back for his third spell, he reversed a 45-over-old ball away from Rahane to produce a massive caught-behind appeal. It was rightly turned down as replays showed the ball missing his outside edge and flicking his back pad.

Both batsmen batted with confidence after these anxious moments and steadied the ship for India. Kohli, looking determined for a big knock, brought up his fifty in the 57th over and didn’t show much of an emotion. Rahane got to his fifty in the 78th over and didn’t seem to have realized it immediately. The 133-run unbroken partnership took India to 190/4 when play was called off for the day due to bad light. This is the first-century stand of this series and a lead of 403 has surely put the game firmly under India’s grip.

Brief Scores:

India 1st innings– 334/10 in 117.5 overs (A Rahane 127; K Abbott  5/40).

South Africa 1st innings– 121/10 in 49.3 overs (AB de Villiers 42; R Jadeja 5/30)

India 2nd innings–190-4 in 81 overs (V Kohli 83*, M Morkel 3/29)

India lead by 403 runs

Also Watch: Morne Morkel bowls the ball of the series to clean bowled Shikhar Dhawan