South Africa vs India: Bowlers’ lack of discipline hands hosts the initiative on Day 2 of first Test | Cricket News

It was hope that killed India on Day Two. Hope that the devils in the pitch would bedevil South Africa’s batsmen; hope that Jasprit Bumrah would tear the batting sheet into shreds; hope that Ravichandran Ashwin would finally enjoy bowling in South Africa; hope that Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur would compensate for the absence of Mohammed Shami. As the day unfolded, the layers of hope began to vanish. Bumrah alone sustained their flicker of hope.But even India’s masterful pace spearhead was not at his tormenting best, his fabled sharpness often fluctuating. At one moment, he would give the impression that he would slice through the batting line-up as a world-beating bowler like him is expected to; the next moment he would seem forlorn and frustrated like an ordinary jack. He struggled to locate the length that suited the surface. In his first spell, he swung the ball alarmingly in the air, finding a delectable curve. But he failed to direct the movement into a productive channel.

When bowling over the stumps to the left-handed pair of Dean Elgar and Tony de Zorzi, he often landed the ball on middle and off, and the pair calmly shouldered arms. When he came round the stumps, Bumrah would either stray too much down the leg-side when looking to angle the ball in, or veer too much towards the off-side when striving to shape the ball away. He struck Elgar on his midriff, beat him with a frisbee-like swing, and snapped past the outside edge of de Zorzi twice. But apart from those instances, South Africa’s batsmen negotiated him without much ado.
Bumrah’s departure after a six-over spell ushered in a steady flow of runs. If Thakur overzealously searched for swing and pitched full with little success, Prasidh bowled with an overeagerness to make an instant impression. the time Bumrah was summoned for his second spell, South Africa had raced to 91 for 1.It was a panic move, but as is often the case, Bumrah delivered. He infused hope.
The 24-over-old ball seemed to suit him more than the new one. For he could control the movement it was still generating. He was now in his element, hitting the lengths he wanted to; extracting the movement he strove for, setting up the batsmen as he planned to. He pounded the fifth-stump channel, delicately interchanging his length from full to hard, bargaining subtle deviation either way.
India’s bowler Yashasvi Jaiswal, centre, celebrates after South Africa’s batsman Keegan Petersen for 2 runs during the second day of the Test cricket match between South Africa and India, at Centurion Park, in Centurion, on the outskirts of Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
De Zorzi steered a short-of-good-length ball past gully. It was what Bumrah wanted him to feel. A sense of false comfort. Soon he pushed one further up, almost on a good length. De Zorzi was plotting the same stroke that had fetched him a four. But this time, it bent away after landing and squared him up. The confused stab took the edge to third slip.
Comeback, of sorts
Suddenly, the mood of the match turned. India could sense a flow of raw energy. Drooping shoulders picked up, mournful faces brightened and hope crept back. Soon after, they were euphoric, as Bumrah ejected the languid Keegan Petersen, recklessly trying to cut a short-of-length ball that came back with the seam. At 113 for 3, India’s hope was blazing. The match, now, was on a knife’s edge.
But the passage of play that followed snuffed all of India’s hope. The mini-collapse did not frazzle Elgar and debutant David Bedingham. Each picked a boundary of a tiring Bumrah, whose second spell would end soon. The 30-wicketless overs that ensued transferred the balance of power back to South Africa. They yielded 131 runs and control of the game. Bedingham illustrated the experience he had gathered from his lengthy domestic career, which included a successful season with Durham. He dealt with the seam movement with unfussy comfort, and punished the error-prone Indian seamers whenever they faltered. With his first attacking stroke, a pulled six off Thakur, he stubbed India’s comeback hopes. Together, he and Elgar cashed in on a wearying group of India’s bowlers, sapped of both ideas and intensity.

Try as Siraj did, he couldn’t bring menace, leaking four runs an over. Thakur steamed in purposefully, but the ball kept disobeying his orders. He bled 4.75 runs an over. Not that the pitch had entirely eased up, or the bowlers were bowling horribly, but they simply couldn’t be disciplined enough to pile on the pressure, frustrate and purchase a wicket. They searched for glory balls, when the solution was standard, pressure-bowling. Ashwin was thrown in, rather belatedly, but made little impact. He, though, was India’s most economical bowler of the day.
There was no show of collectivism. None complemented the other, none built pressure for the other. All seemed preoccupied in their own small worlds, resembling a motley group of scattered individuals. The wickets of Bedingham — a lapse in concentration—and Kyle Verreynne offered gasps of relief at the end, but the mood was downbeat when the day ended. It’s hope that killed India on Day Two.