5 Trending points of day 2 of the India v South Africa 3rd Test

India set a tough target of 311 for South Africa to chase. The match is into its fourth innings as the Proteas began their chase and are 32 for 2. However, the exciting fact of the match is that only two days have been completed so far. Both the South African innings, as well as the Indian innings came to its conclusion in the same day. Overall, 20 wickets fell on day 2. The match had some memorable performances and sparked some interesting debate as well. India looks well set to win the match, but it would be a mistake to write off the South African batsmen.

Here are the five important talking points of the match –

1 . South African trio of Amla, de Villiers, and du Plessis disappoint:

South Africa showcased a poor batting display after they were bowled out by India for an unworthy total of just 79. After SA lost their openers quickly, it was anticipated that the middle order will show resistance to the Indian spinners. However, the trio of Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis failed miserably. Amla was out for just 1 run while AB de Villiers was unexpectedly dismissed for a duck by Ravindra Jadeja. Du Plessis also did not survive long and was clean bowled by Jadeja at a score of just 10 runs. Amla and Faf continued their poor run in the series. AB de Villiers was an exception until this match having scored two half-centuries in the previous 4 innings. Overall, Amla has scored only 54 runs in 6 innings while du Plessis has managed only 11 runs in the 5 innings he has played in the series which includes two ducks.

2. Phenomenal bowling by Ashwin and Jadeja:

Indian spinners, as expected, dominated the South African batsmen on day two. Ashwin and Jadeja were the chief tormentors, sharing nine wickets among themselves. The off-spinner completed his 14^th five wicket haul while Jadeja claimed a 4-wicket haul as the South African innings folded on 79. Both the bowlers pitched the ball accurately at the right places and the pitch did the rest of the job. Ashwin’s flighted off-breaks and Jadeja’s pace and flat trajectory gave the SA batsmen no chance to survive.

3. Imran Tahir leads South African fightback:

It was a bad day at the office for South Africa as well as their skipper Hashim Amla. However, Amla could have made a few better captaincy decisions. Tahir was brought into the attack in the 25th over after spells from Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada, and Simon Harmer. However, Tahir proved his effectiveness by striking in quick successions. He ended with the figures of 5/38 including the wickets of Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, and Ajinkya Rahane. It was a clear-cut fact that spin would dominate the batsmen and holding him back to bowl until the 25th over was surely the decision that would hurt them. But, nevertheless, Tahir tamed the Indian batsmen and brought their downfall.

4. Demons in the pitch:

The Nagpur pitch was behaving very notoriously. Life became tough for the batsmen as they struggled to bat on this pitch. Indians as well the Proteas batsmen showed a lack of survival skills. A total of 20 wickets fell on a single day today which clearly indicates the nature of the pitch. It is not like only the South Africans have struggled to play on this wickets. Indian batting line up to succumbed within a day for a paltry score of 179. The spinners from both sides have dominated their opposition. Imran Tahir (5/38), Ravichandran Ashwin (5/32) and R. Jadeja (5/33) the figures these three lead spinners have managed to get, give enough evidence about the nature of the wicket. 

5. Pitch faces criticism in the cricketing fraternity:

Legends of the game turned to twitter to voice their opinions with regards to the pitch. Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden tweeted that the pitch was very disappointing and also questioned the quality of cricket been played. Glenn Maxwell called this pitch as “diabolical.” Tom Moody also blamed the pitch and tweeted that such pitches cannot do anything good for the future of Test cricket. Cricket fans also trolled this pitch with various humorous tweets. However, some cricketers like Jimmy Neesham, Herschelle Gibbs also praised the pitch and called the match as an exciting contest. It is a fact that the tweakers have a lot to enjoy bowling on this pitch, but the efforts and skills of the spinners can also not be ignored. Such huge reactions from the past and current players looked like an over reaction.