IND vs SA | Ranchi Day 1 Talking Points - South Africa losing dominance on Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane's big day

South Africa’s early grip falls loose after dominating start

The visitors’ day started with another round of bad luck at the toss despite skipper Faf du Plessis trying something new to break the jinx. But fate had no intention to be lenient on the Proteas. Du Plessis brought in Temba Bavuma as his Toss substitute to break his nine toss losses in a row. That went in vain as Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to bat first.

Perhaps, one would think that South Africa were out of the game even before they could step out to play. But the brilliant efforts by the pace attack, spearheaded by Kagiso Rabada weaved a different story. At no point in this series, a total of three previous innings to be precise, did South Africa control the Indian top-order better than what Ranchi witnessed throughout a better part of the first session. Rabada found his breakthrough quite early in the innings by removing double centurion Mayank Agarwal. The pacer then set up the perfect trap for Cheteshwar Pujara who gave into his woes of getting dismissed, for a duck, on lbw once again.

Just as Rabada starting losing his grip, Anrich Nortje who had a forgettable debut in Pune jumped in and set Virat Kohli up in what would become an outstanding dismissal. He got the first two deliveries of that over to move away from the batsman and then the third one found a clear inner movement. Clearly, Nortje moved above his short ball techniques from the previous game and bowled fuller today and much to Kohli’s disappointment, it worked for the South African pacer. As Kohli was out for an lbw, for the first time in this series there came an opportunity for us to point out that “India are in trouble” as the scorecard read 39/3. At no point in this series had India lost three wickets so early in their innings. 

However, soon the pitch turned out to be what Ranchi was expected to be, owing to the only Test, against Australia, that was played on this ground. A dead wicket. Perhaps, the following barrage of runs. 

Run Rate has two R(s) so have Rohit and Rahane

Kohli walked out with evident rage as his heavily despised ‘Umpires Call’ reinstated his dismissal to Anrich Nortje’s inswinger. Again, to boldly state that India ‘were in trouble’ at that point. But soon the ‘R’ element would come in and the keyword from the above statement would change from ‘trouble’ to ‘were’. Pujara and Kohli’s not so far apart dismissals meant Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane would either succumb to the situation of ‘trouble’ or build a partnership that would define India’s innings. Much to the discomfort of the South African bowlers, the duo chose the latter.

The run rate was going marginally below 3 just with just one over left for lunch, but on the penultimate delivery of the first session, Rohit gave a glimpse of what was about to come. Hitman executed his brilliant top-edged pull and the ball cleared to the stands. Around 22 overs later, Rohit hit another six(at 95*) to reach his sixth hundred in Tests. Whatever happened in between, India’s run-rate soared up above 4 per over. A major part of which was owed to Rahane’s incredibly smooth start. At no point did Rahane show any kind of vulnerability, scoring runs so confidently that it was he who accelerated the innings before a watchful Rohit could return to his usual hitting ways. 

For someone like Rahane, who is massively criticised for his home record in the past two years, this innings was groundbreaking for a new start. Before bad light cut short the day’s play, Rahane remained unbeaten at 83 with a strike rate of 61, which is way above his past two year’s aggregate strike rate of 47. He’s just a little away from scoring his first Test hundred on home soil in three years. As for Rohit, the highest run-getter in this series, he has sealed a spot for the entire home season with his consistency.

Pujara’s inconsistency a worry for India

As Rahane defied a presumed notion of him batting slow, Cheteshwar Pujara has not been himself as well. But in a negative way. For someone like Pujara who performed commendably in England last year followed by series-defining performances in Australia, it shouldn’t ideally be a problem to score on flat home wickets. Sporting a reputation of playing when the team is stuttering, Pujara has failed to bat in easier situations or rather conditions. Reason being his limited set of techniques, an aspect that should be abundantly worked on when it comes to Test cricketers.

But Pujara’s lack of footwork, his inability to leave enough space between the bat and pad and his inaccuracy in tackling the inner movement of deliveries has left Pujara in an area where he is struggling to convert. Even during the Caribbean tour, Kemar Roach identified Pujara’s weakness and exploited it well. In Vizag, Pujara struggled at 8 runs off 61 deliveries at a point in the second innings, after which he would go on to score 81 off 148. The nature of his dismissal, a well set up lbw by Philander, and the fact he once again failed to convert is alarming for him and for India in the longer run. 

In Pune, it was Nortje’s poor ‘hit on the helmet’ tactic to Pujara, which looked more like a desperate effort by the bowler, failed to trouble the batsman. And Pujara managed a steady half-century. But his woes came to the forefront once again as Rabada emulated Philander’s Vizag tactic to dismiss him for a duck. To highlight his inconsistency, in his last eight Test innings Pujara has managed 205 averaging 25.62. Thanks to Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane, there was only a little worry for India this time as Day 1, ended with bad light, saw the hosts leaving the ground with a head held high at 224/3.