IND vs SA | Vizag Day 3 Talking Points: Dean Elgar’s innings of bloody-mindedness and Kohli underusing Shami
Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock showed their class in front of the rampant run of R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as South Africa put up a stiff fight against India in the first innings. However, Virat Kohli was left to rue his chances as he underused Mohammed Shami when the going was tough.
An innings of pure bloody-mindedness
Trust me or not, Dean Elgar has an inexplicable cult following in South Africa. With dummies in their mouths, nappies around their waists and baby bonnets on their heads, a clan gathered at the Newlands to celebrate the Deano Elgar Baby Shower-Birth-Baptism-Brit Milah ceremony. All fun, and it was Elgar who had them hooked. But what was special about Elgar in a country that has the likes of Dale “timeless” Steyn, Kagiso “ferocious” Rabada, and Quinton “Marathon” de Kock, was a classic anomaly and doesn’t suit to the Titans opener, with a career Test average of 38.77.Â
In case you didn't know it already, he is South Africa’s highest run-scorer in Tests since 2015 and during tormenting times for the country that had lost some of the mightiest characters in the dressing room, Elgar has been an oasis of calm. But his innings in Vizag is one of pure bloody-mindedness and trying to defy something that has forever been their kryptonite.
As a matter of fact, until the first innings of last year's Centurion Test, Dean Elgar had faced 158 balls from Ravichandran Ashwin in Tests, scoring 63 runs and being dismissed five times in the process. A possible fact could be Ashwin and Jadeja bowled a lot of full balls today to lure him directly for LBW instead of trying to spin it or letting the ball holding its line. However, nothing can be taken away from Elgar, who tried to put the pressure back with a Misbah-kind of approach - play, play and hit an aerial one out of nowhere.Â
It was also ironic that he slog-swept Ashwin for a six to bring about his century - only fifth such occurrence in India since 2013 after a visiting team had lost the toss. In 2015, Ashwin reminded him that it was not Johannesburg that he could hit him against the turn, and Elgar’s single-minded determination resulted in a fine performance that has the potential to be among the all-time best by a South African.Â
Did Jadeja miss a trick by not slowing down his pace?
A revealing graphic on ESPN Cricinfo denoted yesterday that Ravichandran Ashwin is among the best new-ball bowlers in world cricket since his debut and it was just as surprising as many. Defying convention, Ashwin relied on his own tricks which have been the best thing he has done ever since. Today, he was not getting any purchase off the surface with the old ball, and it shouldn’t have been forgotten that he was not that bad with the old ball too.Â
Ravindra Jadeja, however, wasn’t anywhere close to what had once made him the spin twin of Ravi Ashwin a couple and a half years ago. That could have been attributed to his pace. On the same Vizag surface, when Jadeja bowled at a speed than 85kmph, he was able to generate as much as 5.6 degrees of turn but once he exceeded that mark, his turn was reduced by 2.4 degrees.Â
Although it is a known fact that Jadeja gets his rhythm from his pace and he loses the control once he drops it drastically, the wicket was demanding him to slow down because it was clear that landing the ball full was clearly playing into the visitors’ hands. In the last session of the day, bowling to another left-hander Quinton de Kock, he improved in that front which eventually created a couple of chances.Â
Shami was a disaster but did Virat Kohli use him well?
In 2016-17, Jasprit Bumrah’s Test career was yet to resume, Ishant Sharma was still not doing the things that he is doing now. It was Mohammed Shami who was India’s second pacer in the last home season after Umesh Yadav, of all people. With Bumrah out of the equation with a back injury, Shami had started with Ishant, but as things stand now, Shami has been a total waste for India.
However, the question here is if Virat Kohli did use him well? Yesterday, after Shami bowled one over with the new ball, Kohli brought in Ravichandran Ashwin, a move that paid rich dividends but surely resulted in Shami having to be pushed out of his comfort zone. Bereft of doing something with the new ball, he had to bowl with a rather old ball as a change in approach, which made him look like a disaster.
In the second and third spell, he generated some bounce and movement, but that was to no avail as Kohli took him off after the spinners took a bit of rest. Shami clearly could have done better and created a few chances, but the way Kohli used him was also not ideal for the bowler’s confidence.