South Africa need 111 more runs with 8 wickets in handThe audacity of Rishabh Pant alone has set up this Test – the third and deciding one between South Africa and India at Newlands, Cape Town – into a delectable contest. The hosts have eight wickets in hand and need another 111 runs to win; the ball is transitioning from new to old, and the bowlers are very much capable of handling both.
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| AS IT HAPPENED
The team that manages to reduce the margins of error more successfully will take the match and the series. At 101-2 though, South Africa are slightly ahead, a good deal of luck, and relative easing of the track coming to their aid.
India scored 198 runs in the second innings, 28 of which came through extras and 100 off Pant’s bat. The rest of the batting order put together the remaining 70 runs. It should be another stark reminder for coach Rahul Dravid and the national selectors to take appropriate calls in the near future.
To be fair to India’s bench-strength, it’s been a very warm one for quite some time now.
Coming back to the game, Pant’s unbeaten 100 – laced with six boundaries and four sixes – was partly aided by Virat Kohli’s very patient 143-ball 29 too. The runs may not have been much, but Kohli stuck around long enough, after Pant had just arrived, to ensure the latter wasn’t left alone facing Rabada, Olivier and Jansen.
On the eve of this game, Kohli had told media that “Pant had been spoken to”, and the statement was an after-effect of that rash stroke the wicketkeeper-batsman had played at the Wanderers, off Rabada, only to get caught behind for a duck. Kohli spoke, but it’s unclear if Pant heard, because little of what he did on Thursday afternoon in Cape Town had anything to do with the word ‘patience’.
The bat flew in one direction, the ball in another. On instances, the batsman went across the wicket and played a ball going a foot outside the off-stump to the on-side. He swirled, fell, hopped and twisted himself in knots.
Physics had little to do with Pant’s batting, but he did not give his wicket away.
Ahead of this Test, Kohli had talked about the lesson he had learnt from MS Dhoni – not to repeat the same mistakes for seven to eight months. On Day Three though, the skipper himself repeated that error of going after the ball outside the off-stump – just the kind that’s been luring him to edge – and fell again.
The Kohli-Pant stand, had it continued through the session, would’ve ensured a target of 250-plus and this Test would’ve started looking different already. It’s looking slightly tilted in favour of South Africa, partly due to some very cautious batting from Elgar, some very flamboyant batting from Petersen, and largely a great deal of luck assisting them.
The ball either kept missing the edge of Elgar’s bat or didn’t carry enough, making the Indian bowlers sweat. Kohli brought in Ashwin and the off-spinner managed a good deal of turn – even by his standards – but nothing went though. The closest he came to picking a wicket was when Petersen padded it and the ball looked like hitting the stumps. But such was India’s day that the review showed the ball bouncing higher than what they thought.
The first session on Friday will decide the course of this Test match, one that continues to hang in the balance at the moment.
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In Pics: South Africa eye victory despite Pant century for India in third Test
Show Captions
<p>Rishabh Pant hit a thrilling century for India and followed up with a crucial catch to break South Africa’s progress towards chasing down a victory target of 212 on the third day of the third Test at Newlands on Thursday. (BCCI Photo)</p>
<p>South Africa were 101 for two at the close, 111 runs short of clinching the match and a series which is tied at 1-1. Pant made 100 not out off 139 balls, hitting six fours and four sixes, but received minimal support from his teammates as India were bowled out for 198. (Reuters Photo)</p>
<p>South African captain Dean Elgar, the star of a similar chase in the second Test in Johannesburg, looked set to see out the day in partnership with in-form Keegan Petersen but fell to a diving leg side catch by Pant off Jasprit Bumrah in the last over of the day. He was out for 30. (AFP Photo)</p>
<p>Petersen, South Africa’s top-scorer with 72 in the first innings, was unbeaten on 48. (Reuters Photo)</p>
<p>Pant, batting with unorthodox flair, ran out of partners in a poor Indian batting performance but was able to notch his fourth Test century before the last wicket fell. Pant and captain Kohli put on 94 for the fifth wicket after India lost two wickets in the first two overs of the day after resuming on 57 for two. (AFP Photo)</p>
<p>Indian captain Virat Kohli made an unusually subdued 29, batting for more than three hours and facing 143 balls but the next highest contributor to the total was 28 extras. (Reuters Photo)</p>
<p>Left-arm fast bowling discovery Marco Jansen took four for 36 – his third four-wicket in three Tests – and Kagiso Rabada and Lungi Ngidi took three wickets each. (AFP Photo)</p>
<p>Ngidi made a crucial breakthrough when he had Kohli caught at second slip soon after lunch. He followed up by dismissing Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur in quick succession, exposing the Indian tail. (AFP Photo)</p>
<p>Out-of-form SA opener Aiden Markram made 16, all from boundaries but was then caught sharply at third slip by KL Rahul. Having escaped with an extravagant drive which flew between third slip and gully, Markram repeated the shot again in the next ball and was out with the total on 23. (AFP Photo)</p>
<p>India appeared to have made a crucial breakthrough when Elgar was given out leg before wicket to Ashwin. He was on 22 and the total on 60. Elgar sought a review of umpire Marais Erasmus’ decision. It seemed an optimistic challenge but the ball tracking technology showed the ball was going just over the top of the stumps. Kohli and his team seemed astonished at the outcome and Kohli shouted into the stump microphone at the end of the over. (Reuters Photo)</p>
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