CAPE TOWN: The fate of a Test match gets decided session by session. The first session belonged to India, the mid-session belonged to both the teams and the final session is when South Africa bounced back in the game.
As it happened: India vs South Africa, 1st Test, Day 1This, in essence, was the summary of the first day of the first Test between South Africa and India at the
Newlands Cricket Stadium
on Friday. The hosts managed to eke out 286 before reducing the visitors to 28/3 at stumps.
ALSO READ: White-ball specialist Jasprit Bumrah bolts into India’s Test XIThe dicey weather that often gets the goat around the Cape stayed away from any mischief but while the sun kept shining on a fast outfield, it was wind that players - especially the Indians - had to handle.
ALSO READ: We have given away 30 runs more to South Africa, says BhuvneshwarAll doubts about the track - green, light green, somewhat green - were laid to rest on the morning of the game when South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first. It did come as a bit of a surprise that Faf du Plessis, the SA skipper who opted for a five-man specialist attack consisting Steyn, Morkel, Rabada, Philander and Maharaj, made India bowl first.
The talk of whether India would end up withstanding the SA bowling fury turned exactly the other way round in the early session of play when the Indian attack gained an immediate edge over the hosts with three quick wickets.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the pick of India bowlers with a four-wicket haul from 19 overs, damaged the top order; Mohd Shami, Hardik Pandya and
Jasprit Bumrah kept a tab on the middle with a wicket each while off-spinner R Ashwin wiped out the tail with two scalps against his name.
The wicket did begin to settle down after the first 10-odd overs, as was evident when a charged-up AB de Villiers (65), in the company of Faf (62), began freeing his arms. Much to vex an attack that gave a feeling of having grabbed the opposition by the scruff, the two put together a 114-run stand to give themselves the breather. But such was the neat line that India maintained that neither did the partnership last long nor the rest of the line-up, barring Quinton de Kock's counter-attacking 43 off 40 balls.
"If we want to be hard on ourselves, I'd say we gave some 30-odd runs extra,"
Bhuvneshwar
said after the day's play.
The entire tail, barring
Morne Morkel, contributed in double figures as SA chugged along until it was time to wrap up and India's turn to return to the crease.
The ball whizzed but not to the extent that it became the story of the day. As Bhuvi pointed out, "the first 10-15 overs seamed a lot" while once the strip eased out, run-scoring got easier.
It's here that India will have themselves to blame, for finishing the day at 28-3.
Murali Vijay succumbed to that poor, perennially awful idea of tinkering with a Philander delivery he could've left alone.
Dhawan did worse. He went ahead to pull a short-of-length delivery from Steyn. The pace ensured it caught the edge of the left-hander's bat and ballooned high up in the air.
However, it was the dismissal of
Virat Kohli that made South Africa smile benignly for the first time throughout the day. The last of the wickets to fall, the India captain certainly didn't seem in place to play the Morkel delivery and was back for a mere five runs.