IND vs SA | Pune Day 4 Talking Points - Aiden Markram's home sickness and Wriddhiman Saha's superhuman Sunday
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After Virat Kohli enforced the follow-on, much in sync with the first innings, South Africa's top-order showed no fight as their bowlers out-batted their specialists yet again. While all Indian bowlers had a field day at the office, it was Saha who stole the show with his superhuman keeping efforts.
What next for Aiden Markram?
Heading into the series with a 150 against India âAâ and a century against the Board Presidentâs XI, Aiden Markram was expected to be a pillar up top for the Proteas in daunting conditions. But in four innings, all the opener has managed to do is raise doubts over his technique and temperament and subsequently, his credentials as a Test cricketer. In Vizag, he was bamboozled by the spin of Ashwin in the first innings and while he did fare better in the second, his fight didnât last long. Here in Pune, he has looked like a dead duck against the ball coming in, exposing a glaring flaw in his technique - that of leaning over to the off-side whilst planting the front foot - a flaw that haunted the likes of Shane Watson and Aaron Finch.Â
But the bigger question is, how long before South Africa willing to wait on Markram citing the âtalentâ factor? Statistics point towards his career being a tale of two halves. In the first 18 innings of his career, all of which were played at home, Markram scored 1000 runs, scoring four centuries in the process, averaging 55.55. In the next 17, however, heâs managed to score just 402 runs at an averaging under 24, with no hundreds. Whatâs more alarming is the fact that in matches away from home, he averages a shocking 10.50, with his highest score being the 39 in Vizag.Â
Sure, Markram might be South Africaâs golden boy and perhaps even a potential future candidate for captaincy, but it has to be said that with every passing Test, he has looked more and more vulnerable against quality bowling and in all fairness, has done justice to neither his talent nor his reputation. Maybe a spell on the sidelines scoring hard-earned runs in domestic cricket might just do wonders for both himself and the team.Â
Virat Kohli the captain - more sensible, more ruthless and more lethal
From the assessment of conditions to team selection to man-management to his bowlersâ workload management, skipper Virat Kohliâs captaincy throughout the entirety of the series has been shrewd, flawless and astute. It all started off with the bold call of leaving out Rishabh Pant and while he did receive a bit of slack for that decision, he hasnât looked back ever since and frankly, has managed to turn everything heâs touched into gold. In Vizag - in contrast to his counterpart Faf du Plessis - Kohli managed the workload of his spinners to perfection and chose the right time to pull the trigger on the pacers, thus in the process maintaining a perfect balance between defence and attack.
Here in Pune, again, Kohli got his team set-up spot on and with a combination of logical and instinctive thinking, managed to shun the Proteas down at crucial junctures of the match. His declaration on Day 2 and his decision to enforce the follow-on today both turned out to be masterstrokes and his decision to open the bowling with Umesh ahead of Shami, too, ended up catching South Africa off guard.Â
Much in contrast to his younger avatar that would opt for reviews driven by a rush of blood, a more wiser and mature Kohli has also been seen dealing with DRS in a much more calm, composed and professional manner, not going for it without consulting the keeper, bowler and the leadership group comprising Ajinkya Rahane and Rohit Sharma. Â
While there might still be plenty of clouds hanging around the credibility of his captaincy in limited-overs, in Tests, Kohli is slowly but surely establishing a legacy for himself as a great leader - and not just a great batsman - and should this continue, we might see India dominate red-ball cricket for a good part of the next decade.
This is Wriddhiman Sahaâs world and weâre living in it
After being specifically picked in the team ahead of Pant for his keeping skills, Saha was under scrutiny for the entirety of the series. A wicket-keeperâs job is same as a goal-keeperâs; take 100 catches and no one will bat an eye, but miss one and everyone will lose their minds! In Vizag, albeit not being at his agile best, at no point did Saha put a foot wrong or look rusty and though spilling a couple of tough chances that came his way, he did enough to satisfy his examiners.Â
But well, after looking at the events that unfolded on Day 4 in Pune, all you can do is tip your hat off to the genius behind the stumps that is Saha. One moment, he was flying to his left grabbing a ridiculous one-hander to dismiss Thenuis de Bruyn and in another, he was juggling the ball to take an outrageous reflex catch.
While you would have seen these two moments on the highlights package, what the replays wonât show you is his proficiency in judging the turn, bounce and direction of the ball, especially against the spin of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who were all but turning the ball square today. A testament to his perfect keeping is the fact that India just conceded a total of 8 byes in the innings and Saha, in particular, grabbed every single half-chance that came his way.Â
Having completely been under the radar for the entirety of his Test career, the limelight was finally on Saha ahead of this series - for reasons he would and wouldnât have liked - and when the moment finally arrived, he seized it like a rockstar!
