There was
only one winner on Day 3 at the Wanderers, and that was not South Africa.
India
outplayed the home team in almost all departments. The only positive for South
Africa was Vernon Philander who took his 100th Test wicket in only
his 19th Test match, which is an SA record. Furthermore, he joins
the likes of Sir Ian Botham, the ex-England star all-rounder who managed
exactly what Philander did. That alone is a huge feather in Vernon’s cricket
cap…!
Unfortunately,
it only mattered what happened on the field of play, in the Bullring today, and
South Africa had no answer to the early morning bowling of Zaheer Khan and
Sharma. They were bowled out while still trailing the Indian first innings total
by 36 runs. Truly, a disappointing performance when you consider the Proteas
are playing at home and in conditions, they should love and excel in, and while
everybody believed, the Indian batsmen would struggle on the bouncy Wanderers
pitch…!
It just
shows you once more…No matter how many Tests you have played and how well you
may know the conditions, it ALL depends on how you perform on the day, in the
middle. Moreover, Cricket remains a highly unpredictable sport…there is no
doubt about that.
Pujara was
the best batsmen for India today, scoring an impressive century. He will bat on
tomorrow with Kohli, the centurion from Day 2 who made another 50 today. Currently,
the Indian team lead by 320 runs with 8 second innings wickets remaining. I
suspect without Morkel, who injured his ankle while fielding today, the SA
bowlers are going to struggle to restrict India, which means that they will be
facing a target of well over 400, which should be enough…!
The pitch
did seem to ease up a lot in the afternoon today, so I think India will push on
to set a target closer to 500, but it all depends on how quickly they bat or
lose wickets on Day 4. Plenty could still happen – remember, this is Cricket…!
India 280 & 284/2 (78.0 ov)
South Africa 244
India lead by 320 runs with 8 wickets remaining
Stumps - Day 3
Fall of wickets 1-37 (Petersen, 13.1 ov), 2-130 (Amla, 38.1 ov), 3-130 (Kallis, 38.2 ov),
4-130 (Smith, 39.3 ov),5-145 (Duminy, 44.1 ov), 6-146 (de Villiers, 44.3 ov),
7-226 (Philander, 69.1 ov), 8-237 (Steyn, 72.3 ov),9-239 (du Plessis, 73.5 ov), 10-244 (Morkel, 75.3 ov) |
| | | | | | | |
| India 2nd innings | R | M | B | 4s | 6s | SR |
 | S Dhawan | c Kallis b Philander | 15 | 32 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 71.42 |
| M Vijay | c †de Villiers b Kallis | 39 | 155 | 94 | 5 | 0 | 41.48 |
| CA Pujara | not out | 135 | | 221 | 18 | 0 | 61.08 |
| V Kohli | not out | 77 | | 132 | 8 | 0 | 58.33 |
| Extras | (b 5, lb 5, w 8) | 18 | | | | | |
|  | | | | | |
| Total | (2 wickets; 78 overs) | 284 | (3.64 runs per over) |
