South Africa v India, 1st Test, Day 4 - 5 Talking Points

From the last 3-4 months, everyone kept suggesting that this series between India and South Africa will prove to be a treat for the fans. As it turns out, the first Test culminated in the most dramatic way possible to keep everyone on the edge of their seat. Virat Kohli’s young brigade fought hard with the ball but was left cold with the bat.

Vernon Philander, Kagiso Rabada, and Morne Morkel had to fill in for the injured Dale Steyn. Fair to say, they did a magnificent job and helped their side pull off a breathtaking win. Ravichandran Ashwin and Bhuvneshwar Kumar stitched a wonderful stand for the 8th wicket, which kept the game alive for an hour, only to succumb by a lesser margin.

Earlier in the day, Indian bowlers slaughtered the Proteas batters with a tremendous rendition. They picked up 8 wickets in the first session to bowl them out for a paltry 130 runs, which eventually helped them set up a 208 run target. As it turned out, even that target was a little too big and South Africa won the game comprehensively by 72 runs.

1. Philander – You Beauty!

One of the finest spells bowled by him in recent times. Vernon Philander absolutely ripped apart the Indian top order and tail to register a six-fer in the second innings. He managed to pick up 9 wickets, on the whole, to help his side earn a very crucial win. Steyn’s injury meant he had to bowl longer spells and despite him getting tired on occasions, he never missed the bullseye and eventually reaped the benefits.

2. Heart-breaking stuff from the Indian top order

India was definitely in contention looking at the 208 number as the target. But the top order failed horrendously when it mattered the most and as it turned out, they fell 72 runs short of the target. Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Hardik Pandya, and Rohit Sharma, all of them chased the wide deliveries to get dismissed. Leaving the ball is such an important thing to do on tracks which goes bonkers and it wasn’t the best performance from these players by any stretch of the imagination.

3. A little ray of hope, which eventually vanished

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin added 49 runs for the 8th wicket, which indeed ignited some hopes. Both players showed great maturity and their performance was way better than anyone in the top order. But eventually, Philander was just too good for them and he picked up the final three wickets in a span of four balls. Although India lost the game, this was a very commendable effort from both these players.

4. 64 overs – 18 wickets!

The above statistics explains how crazy a day it was for the bowling teams. After India had managed to pick 8 wickets in the first session of the game, it was evident that the pitch was going to assist the quicks. Exactly the way people expected, even the Proteas fast bowlers did a fantastic job to kill the game inside 42 overs of the Indian innings.

5. Bumrah does a Curtley Ambrose!

Good lord! Cricket fans dearly miss those good length balls from Ambrose and Walsh which used to bounce viciously and take the batsmen by a surprise. Jasprit Bumrah pulled off one such act in the game today. His delivery to earn Faf du Plessis’ wicket was really one of the talking points. Pitching on a good length, the ball just jagged back in and bounced waywardly. Du Plessis was caught bamboozled and eventually, the ball took a feather off the bat on its way to Saha’s gloves.

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