It turned out to be a tough day for Indian bowlers at the SuperSport Park in Centurion after KL Rahul’s stupendous knock which took the visitors to a 245-run total. Though the pacers managed to remove half the South African batting line-up, it was veteran opener Dean Elgar who dropped the anchor with a century and returned unbeaten on 140 at stumps. David Bedingham also contributed with a fine fifty as the hosts took a slim lead in the first innings.
The South African played with more ease on the strip troubled the Indian batters on the opening day of the ongoing Test. After Mohammed Siraj had an early breakthrough on Wednesday, the Indian attack toiled for the rest of the day to get another 4 wickets.
Observing the struggle of Jasprit Bumrah & Co, that too under overcast conditions, veteran wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik felt that India missed Mohammad Shami a lot in South Africa. The right-arm couldn’t board the flight to the Rainbow Nation due to an ankle injury and was replaced by Prasidh Krishna.
Speaking on Cricbuzz, Karthik opined that Shami would have reaped satisfactory results on the seam-friendly surface in Centurion.
“The man has grown in stature as a bowler and as a leader of the pack. He is an able lieutenant to Jasprit Bumrah. You can imagine with the upright seam on this kind of pitch. I promise you, he would have definitely gotten a few wickets. The Indian team really misses him,” Karthik told Cricbuzz.
Karthik further highlighted that despite bowling tidy spells on the second day, Bumrah and Siraj did not get enough support from Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur.
“Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna going for close to 118 runs in their 27 overs. On the other hand, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj going for just 111 in their 31 overs. Siraj was a tad bit expensive, especially in the last spell, they also bowled some brilliant balls. You could see every time they were on, you got the feeling that they could get you a wicket or two. Whereas with Shardul or Prasidh, you had to wait for a batter to make a mistake,” Karthik added.
Earlier, Dean Elgar displayed his understated brilliance with a counter-offensive hundred that not only neutralized KL Rahul’s superlative ton but also put South Africa in complete command. Playing his 85th and penultimate Test, left-handed Elgar (140 not-out) stacked up his 14th Test hundred and also took South Africa to 256 for 5 at stumps to offset India’s first innings total of 245.
Comments
0 comment