Day 3 - Wanderers, Sa vs India: There Was Only One Winner Today...

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 100^th Test wicket in only his 19^th 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…! 

Scorecard provided by http://www.espncricinfo.com

India 280 & 284/2 (78.0 ov)

South Africa 244

India lead by 320 runs with 8 wickets remaining

Stumps - Day 3

• India in South Africa Test Series - 1st Test
• Test no. 2108 | 2013/14 season
• Played at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
• 18,19,20,21,22 December 2013 (5-day match)

South Africa 1st innings		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	GC Smith*	lbw b Khan	68	187	119	11	0	57.14
	AN Petersen	lbw b I Sharma	21	61	41	4	0	51.21
	HM Amla	b I Sharma	36	117	74	6	0	48.64
	JH Kallis	lbw b I Sharma	0	2	1	0	0	0.00
	AB de Villiers†	lbw b Mohammed Shami	13	32	21	1	0	61.90
	JP Duminy	c Vijay b Mohammed Shami	2	22	12	0	0	16.66
	F du Plessis	c †Dhoni b Khan	20	141	77	1	0	25.97
	VD Philander	c Ashwin b Khan	59	113	86	7	0	68.60
	DW Steyn	c RG Sharma b I Sharma	10	17	12	2	0	83.33
	M Morkel	b Khan	7	14	9	1	0	77.77
	Imran Tahir	not out	0	8	4	0	0	0.00
	Extras	(lb 4, w 1, nb 3)	8
	Total	(all out; 75.3 overs; 361 mins)	244	(3.23 runs per over)

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)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	Z Khan	26.3	6	88	4	3.32	(1w)
	Mohammed Shami	18	3	48	2	2.66
	I Sharma	25	5	79	4	3.16	(3nb)
	R Ashwin	6	0	25	0	4.16

	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)

To bat RG Sharma, AM Rahane, MS Dhoni*†, R Ashwin, I Sharma, Z Khan, Mohammed Shami

Fall of wickets 1-23 (Dhawan, 7.3 ov), 2-93 (Vijay, 33.5 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	DW Steyn	21	4	64	0	3.04	(2w)
	VD Philander	18	5	53	1	2.94	(1w)
	M Morkel	2	1	4	0	2.00
	JH Kallis	14	4	51	1	3.64
	Imran Tahir	11	0	55	0	5.00
	AB de Villiers	1	0	5	0	5.00	(1w)
	JP Duminy	11	0	42	0	3.81

Day 1: Sa vs India - First Sunfoil Test at Wanderers - Report

When you look at the scorecard from Day 1 of this first test between South Africa and India, it seems as if it was a very evenly balanced day. The South African bowlers did not, apart from during the first spell of the day before lunch, manage to assert themselves as much as were expected by many. The day, according to me, belonged to Virat Kohli, who made a very patient and vital century for his team.

Kohli's 119 came off a patient 257 balls and he anchored the Indian innings for most of the day, until he threw his wicket away with a badly timed shot off Kallis. Morne Morkel was probably the pick of the Proteas bowlers and especially his first spell was electrifying, when he hit that perfect short-of-good-length spot almost with every delivery. The Indian batsmen had no answer to these Morkel deliveries and he was unlucky not to pick up more than just the one wicket. Dale Steyn showed at times why he is the number one test bowler right now, but it seemed as if he was repeatedly trying to bowl to fast, as his line was not that accurate.

 

Day 2 is going to be interesting and it will be crucial for both sides to stamp a bit of authority on the game one way or another, because it is all pretty much even-Stevens right now...!

India 255/5 (90.0 ov)

South Africa

India won the toss and elected to bat

Stumps - Day 1

• India in South Africa Test Series - 1st Test
• Test no. 2108 | 2013/14 season
• Played at New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg
• 18,19,20,21,22 December 2013 (5-day match)

	India 1st innings		R	M	B	4s	6s	SR
	M Vijay	c †de Villiers b Morkel	6	69	42	1	0	14.28
	S Dhawan	c Imran Tahir b Steyn	13	37	27	2	0	48.14
	CA Pujara	run out (Imran Tahir/Amla)	25	148	98	2	0	25.51
	V Kohli	c Duminy b Kallis	119	257	181	18	0	65.74
	RG Sharma	c †de Villiers b Philander	14	48	42	1	0	33.33
	AM Rahane	not out	43		105	7	0	40.95
	MS Dhoni*†	not out	17		46	3	0	36.95
	Extras	(lb 3, w 14, nb 1)	18
	Total	(5 wickets; 90 overs)	255	(2.83 runs per over)

To bat R Ashwin, I Sharma, Z Khan, Mohammed Shami

Fall of wickets 1-17 (Dhawan, 8.6 ov), 2-24 (Vijay, 15.1 ov), 3-113 (Pujara, 42.4 ov), 4-151 (RG Sharma, 53.2 ov),5-219 (Kohli, 75.3 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	DW Steyn	23	5	56	1	2.43	(2w)
	VD Philander	21	2	55	1	2.61
	M Morkel	19	10	27	1	1.42	(1nb, 2w)
	JH Kallis	14	4	37	1	2.64	(2w)
	Imran Tahir	8	0	47	0	5.87
	JP Duminy	5	0	30	0	6.00