SA vs IND | 1st Test, Day 3: India ahead after 18-wicket day as Shami, Rabada, Ngidi rattle batsmen

It’s often said that the third day of a Test match is a “moving day” that dictates the flow of a game and kind of establishes which team is ahead of the game or if the game is in balance. 

The first Test of the series between India and South Africa needed its third day to be a moving day after losing the entire second day’s play and it turned out to be one heck of a day that opened up the possibility of more than two outcomes in the game.

India started the day with as many as seven wickets in their hand and finished the day with nine wickets remaining in their second innings. Their opener KL Rahul walked out to bat with Ajinkya Rahane at the start and walked off the field with Shardul Thakur, who was the night watchman for the day.

What transpired between his two innings ratified the narrative about the third day as 18 wickets fell on the day and provided both sides with the hope of achieving a win. India slipped from 272 for 3 to 327 all out in the span of the first hour and a half to bring Proteas back in the game.

However, their bowlers, who were threatened with the pace and bounce of South African pacers, were ready with the message that they too were there to exploit those conditions and they did not commit the mistake of their counterparts with the new ball. They did not get away by the pace and bounce of the pitch and executed the plan of bowling full length perfectly.

Kagiso Rabada started their slide by finally getting the better of Rahul after troubling him in the last two sessions of the first day. He was cramped for room and could not execute a pull shot. Rahane was undone by his unusual indiscipline outside off stump as an error in judgement of the line of a delivery from Lungi Ngidi saw him edging to the keeper.

There were hopes from Rishabh Pant and Shardul Thakur but the former was guilty of playing Ngidi tentatively from the crease while the ‘lord’ paid the price of becoming too ambitious and adventurous.

What was laid as a perfect platform to dictate the flow and terms of the game to the hosts ended in a rapid capitulation and India were left to be secured by their bowling attack once again.

However, on cue, they were up to the job immediately and Jasprit Bumrah got one to jag back sharply to find Proteas skipper Dean Elgar shell shocked and edging to the keeper.

Mohammad Siraj was trusted with the new ball but he could not get the batsmen playing at him and Virat Kohli was eager to have South Africans playing at the deliveries. Mohammad Shami was called in for the job and he delivered the first ball, right on the line of the off-stump and on a length that asked the other Proteas opener Aiden Markram to come forward.

The first ball was the perfect template for any pacer on that SuperSport Park pitch and it suggested that the pacer was in for a successful spell. He kept on asking questions and got the better of both Keegan Petersen and Aiden Markram in a six-over-long spell that yielded just 10 runs.

India were rampant with the new ball and it was Siraj’s chance to join the party. He got Rassie van der Dussen reaching out to a very full and wide delivery from him and Rahane was ecstatic to safely pouch a low catch. He delivered the next ball perfectly angling away from Quinton de Kock and the wicketkeeper-batsman obliged with a full-blooded drive. 

The edge was found but Rahul could not take the catch with a one-handed attempt and the men in blue missed the golden opportunity to crush Proteas.

The onus of rescuing Proteas fell on Temba Bavuma and de Kock and they did the job perfectly to start with. Both stitched a partnership of 72 runs but just when the duo was stabilising the Proteas, the ‘lord’ showered his blessings on India and sent de Kock back to the pavilion.

Bavuma played a resilient and flawless innings to reach his fifty but the day was to be of Shami and he came back for the next spell of the day to send both him and Wian Mulder back to the pavilion and push the Proteas on the brink.

The lower order comprising of Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada and Keshav Maharaj played some remarkable shots for lower-order batsmen but their appetite and defence was not to be miraculous enough to keep India at bay.

In the end, India secured a lead of 130 runs and although they lost Mayank Agarwal in the final over of the day when the opener committed the cardinal sin of poking at outside off delivery of Jansen.

India would be hoping to bat with full of “intent” for the first two sessions of the fourth day and then they would once again call upon their bowling attack to lead them to a magical win such as the one against England at Lord’s earlier this year.