Agarwal ton guides dominant India in Pune

Mayank Agarwal’s second successive century guided India to 273-3 on another dominant day for the home side on the first day of the second test against South Africa at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Thursday.

Right-hander Agarwal, 28, scored 215 in the first test and continued his sublime form adding 108 from 195 deliveries with 16 fours and a pair of sixes.

On another tough day for the bowlers, South Africa had just one success in each of the three sessions with Kagiso Rabada removing Rohit Sharma (14) in the morning, Cheteshwar Pujara (58) in the afternoon and Agarwal after tea.

All three batsmen pushed defensively at back-of-a-length deliveries and provided edges to ‘keeper Quinton de Kock and captain Faf du Plessis at first slip.

Rohit faced 35 deliveries and departed in the 10th over while Pujara faced 112 balls striking nine fours and a six before du Plessis did well to get his fingers under a low catch to his left. Du Plessis also held the edge at slip to end Agarwal’s excellent innings.

“I’m obviously very happy to score back-to-back centuries but more importantly the team is in a really good position because we are playing the extra bowler and there is something in this pitch for the bowlers,” Agarwal said after the close of play.

“I was pleased with the way I batted time because there were times when the boundaries were coming quickly but there were other times when Rabada and Philander bowling good, tight lines and I had to be patient.

“It has been raining all this while in Pune so there was some moisture in the pitch and it wasn’t easy to bat, especially in the morning session,” Agarwal said.

RUNNING & MEDITATION

Asked what had changed in his approach after gaining a reputation for scoring attractive 30s before losing concentration and being dismissed, Agarwal said: “A lot of long-distance running and some meditation, it helps with the mental discipline.”

There may be “something in it” for the bowlers but Agarwal said the team were still aiming high: “A total 450 or 500 would be nice, then we can really try to put South Africa under pressure again.”

Proteas bowling coach Vincent Barnes admitted that the “window of opportunity” for the bowlers was open for fast bowlers longer than it had been in the first test and said that “with more luck, they could have taken one or two more wickets.”

“The plan was to be patient although there was some grass on the wicket, but we just wanted to bowl more balls in good areas. I thought we bowled pretty well, beat the bat a few times, but we would have been much happier with a couple more wickets,” Barnes said.

“It was fantastic to see KG bowl that well, especially after tea when conditions were at their toughest. There were a lot of signs today that he is getting back to his best.”

OMINOUSLY POISED

There was no respite for the toiling bowlers, however, with Indian captain Virat Kohli ominously poised on 63 (105 balls, 10x4) at the close in the company of a less assured Ajinkya Rahane whose 18 not out, spanned 70 deliveries. .

Agarwal was occasionally troubled by the short ball from Rabada but cover drove beautifully against debutant Anrich Nortje while playing the left-arm spin of Keshav Maharaj with ease.

The tourists will be especially disappointed with their morning’s work because there was unexpected pace and bounce in the playing surface and even a touch of green which provided some seam movement.

Vernon Philander beat the bat on a dozen occasions during a miserly spell in the morning session but looked short of pace while taking the second new ball at the end of the day and finished with figures of 17-5-37-0.

Rabada was comfortably the pick of the attack finishing with 18.1-2-48-3 before bad light ended play four overs prematurely.

Debutant Anrish Nortje was too full in length and was driven for five boundaries in his opening spell of 5-1-27-0 and was too short in his second spell and third spells finishing with 13-3-60-0.

Maharaj (29-8-89-0) was reduced to trying to bowl dot balls in the absence of any spin and du Plessis spent much of the final session concentrating on defence rather than attack.

Both teams made one change to their starting XIs by including an extra seamer in place of a third spinner. Fast bowler Nortje replaced offspinner Dane Piedt for South Africa while Umesh Yadav took the place of Hanuma Vihari.

INDIA: Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami

SOUTH AFRICA: Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Theunis de Bruyn, Temba Bavuma, Faf du Plessis (capt), Quinton de Kock (wk), Senuran Muthusamy, Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje