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Brave Maharaj, Philander give Proteas some respectability
A remarkable and unexpected ninth-wicket partnership of 109 between Vernon Philander and Keshav Maharaj finally provided some respectability to South Africa’s performance as they recovered from 53 for five to score 275 at the close of play on the third day of the second test against India at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Saturday.
The tourists still trail by 326 runs and Indian captain Virat Kohli will have until 10 minutes before the start of play on the fourth day to decide whether or not to enforce the follow-on.
Maharaj’s 72 was comfortably a career-best coming from 132 balls with 12 fours while Philander’s unbeaten 44 was comfortably his longest innings in test cricket spanning just under four hours and 192 deliveries with just six boundaries.
Maharaj flicked a Ravi Ashwin off break off the face of the bat to Rohit Sharm at leg slip shortly before the close of play and last man Kagiso Rabada was lbw to Ashwin (4-69) in the final over of the day.
It was a particularly brave effort from the left-arm spinner who was taken to hospital for a series of scans on his injured right shoulder after falling heavily in the field on the second afternoon.
“Vern and I were determined to bat for as long as possible but being a lower-order batsman your fingers do itch to hit the ball but Vern kept me in my space and in my box and luckily I managed to get some runs,” Maharaj said after the day’s play.
“I spoke to (analyst) Prasana (Angoram) last night about a game plan for me against the spinners and I just tried to get outside off stump against Ashwin and leg stump against Jadeja. The pitch is deteriorating and there is some spin and bounce, especially with the newer ball,
“It was difficult at first but, the longer you bat the better it gets to score runs on it,” Maharaj said.
Asked whether the top order should have done better after the example set by him and Philander, Maharaj said: “Not at all, to be honest I was more worried about the pain in my shoulder than anything else but after a couple of pull shots it just felt numb and I started to focus on my batting.”
BRILLIANT ASHWIN
In the morning session, nightwatchman Anrich Nortje (3) departed early to a fine catch by Virat Kohli at fourth slip off the bowling of Mohammad Shami and fellow seamer Umesh Yadav claimed a third wicket when Theunis de Bruyn (30) edged a lavish drive to keeper Wriddhiman Saha.
Quinton de Kock added 75 for the sixth wicket with Du Plessis (64) before Ravi Ashwin spun a delivery past the outside edge to clip the top of off stump. De Kock had looked in fine form for his 31 from 48 balls with seven fours.
The tourists lost only two wickets in the middle session with Senuran Muthusamy (7) falling lbw to Ravindra Jadeja offering no shot before captain Du Plessis’ counter-attacking innings of 64 (117 balls, 9x4,1x6) came to an end with a thick edge to Ajinkya Rahane at slip off the bowling of Ravichandran Ashwin.
It was a brilliant spell of bowling from the seasoned offspinner who delivered two overs of ripping off-breaks to the batsmen before a quicker delivery slid straight on to find the edge. Du Plessis faced 117 balls and hit nine fours and a six.
With two days still to play the home side remain overwhelming favourites to win the match and clinch the series whether they enforce the follow-on or not.
'IT DENTS YOUR EGO'
“We don’t know what India are going to do but for us it’s just a question of trying to spend as much time as possible at the wicket but still being positive because if you go into your shell you will get a ball with your name on it. So we’ll try to score runs as well and transfer the pressure back onto the bowlers,” Maharaj said.
“For the top-order batsmen who are supposed to score the bulk of the runs it does hurt, it dents your ego to see the lower order fight it out and do what you are paid to do,” admitted Temba Bavuma after the day’s play.
“The boys are trying with the bat and, looking to the second innings there is still a lot of confidence. It’s not all demons out there, we’ve just got to find a way to dominate as much as India have done.
“I don’t have the answers as to why it’s going wrong but obviously we haven’t been able to put up the partnerships and we haven’t been able to absorb the pressure the Indian bowlers are putting on us. But we have an opportunity to put hat right in the second innings,” Bavuma said.
A career-best, unbeaten 254 from Virat Kohli and a whirlwind 91 from Ravindra Jadeja propelled India to a mammoth 601 for five declared on the second day.
The Indian captain’s seventh double century and a fifth-wicket stand of 225 with Jadeja condemned the tourists to attempt to draw the match but Aiden Markram (0) was trapped lbw by Umesh Yadav in the second over to immediately underpin their efforts.
Dean Elgar (6) followed soon afterwards, bowled off the inside edge by the same bowler and Bavuma (8) edged a Mohammad Shami delivery to wicketkeeper Saha.
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
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