History beckons India

NT Correspondent

In a game of twists and turns, South Africa put themselves in pole position to clinch the Test series against India after an all-round display on Day 3.

Rishabh Pant was fearless without being careless during a brilliant hundred in the most adverse circumstances but South Africa were on course for a memorable series win against India on a day when visiting skipper Virat Kohli was left fuming due to a contentious DRS decision in the third and final Test here.

Pant’s (100 not out off 139 balls) fourth Test hundred constituted for more than 50 per cent of India’s shoddy second innings total of 198 with Kohli’s 29 off 143 balls being the second highest individual score.

With an easy target of 212 to chase, South Africa were 101 for 2 at stumps as their dogged skipper Dean Elgar (30) was finally out tickling down the leg side giving India some breathing space going into the fourth and probably the final day of the series.

With 111 runs left, the match is expected to end early on Friday either way but at this moment Proteas look way ahead.

8 Indian batters fail to reach double figures

No amount of excuses would be enough for India when they analyse the below par show along with the new team management’s decision to carry over-the-hill out of form seniors, which only compounded problems. It’s up to the bowlers now.

End of the road for ‘PuRane’?

A few days back, after their umpteenth failure, Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane were trending on social media with the hashtag being ‘PuRane’ (Old). Rahane’s tally stands at 136 at an average of 22.66 and Pujara is even worse with only 124 at 20.66. In all likelihood, the statistics will be the final nail in the coffin when Chetan Sharma and his colleagues pick the squad for the next Test series in India.

In last two years, they have failed consistently and found success not even sporadically whereas it should have been the other way round.

“I trust my process,” is a catch-phrase that one hears often in Indian cricket.

But in case of Rahane and Pujara, it can be said that the process has clearly not worked for a while now. As of now, the two have played their last Test for India.