Kohli, Pujara hold up South Africa

If they end up on the wrong side, they will have to scrutinise some of their decisions on the opening day. They have a decent enough total but it’s not really par. I saw these guys playing in India on low and slow wickets and they are good players but to adapt to different conditions isn’t easy.

After India lost the openers cheaply, Pujara dug deep.

“And the conditions in the last couple of Tests have been foreign even to South Africa. Should the Indians get these two things right, a score of 187 might very well turn out to be an imposing one for the Proteas. Not surprisingly, the new ball was hard to handle in the morning. At the first drinks break, with India 19 for 2, South Africa would have been feeling so good. India survived it with minimum damage only to fritter the advantage away in the next two sessions. “First innings is key for India“.

However, he was unable to make the most of his fifty as he was caught by De Villiers at third slip off the bowling of Lungi Ngidi for 54, which came off 106 balls and included nine boundaries. Following the fall of the first wicket, Cheteshwar Pujara walked in at No. 3. Kohli was dropped on 11 and 32, Pujara was on nought when the hosts appealed half-heartedly for an lbw and chose not to review a not-out call that would have been overturned.

A patient Pujara took 54 balls to score his first runs and by tea had faced 145 deliveries. India were not complaining. As a bowling allrounder whose speeds peak in the mid-130s but who does not move the ball with the same magic as Vernon Philander, and whose long-format batting average has only peeped over 20, Phehlukwayo could easily have been confined to the shorter formats, where his ability to take pace of the ball, his death bowling and hard-hitting have proved to be match-winners. The two best batsmen were still at the crease. There was nothing half-hearted – as with M Vijay’s drive to get out – about Kohli’s innings.

Ajinkya Rahane was finally given a spot in the playing XI while Bhuvneshwar Kumar was recalled as Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin made way for India.

The day began with Vernon Philander bowling one of those spells where on any other day, he would have accounted for many more wickets. For me intent is something where you defend well, you leave well, and you play on the merit of the ball.

There are cracks that the ball is deviating off and the bounce is already up and down according to Phehlukwakyo, whose advice to batsmen is to try and get going quickly. From then on, batsman after batsman, Hardik Pandya and Parthiv Patel included, threw their bat around but without much success. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who made 30 batting at number eight, was the only other Indian to reach double figures.