2nd Test, Day 3: Defiant Elgar stands firm between India's dream and Proteas' survival

When the struggling duo of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane started the game on the third day, South Africa would have looked to settle down with a disciplined line and length to stop them from running away with the game.

By the end of the day, the tables have turned and it’s Proteas led by Dean Elgar, who will give KL Rahul and company the same headache in the morning of the fourth day of the Test.

South Africa were set a target of 240 runs and there would not have been who would have preferred to sit in their camp considering the nature of the surface at the Wanderers.

However, South African openers were not afraid of being either written off or of the might and versatility of the Indian bowling attack. They used the successful template of batting used by the pair of Rahane and Pujara to get things going at a rapid rate.

The Indian bowling attack, for some reason, adopted the tactic of bowling straighter lines and the pitch, most probably to their surprise, did not offer them the level of assistance they would have hoped. Jasprit Bumrah struggled with control and also appeared to be lacking the bite generally associated with his deliveries and he was the most ineffective bowler on the third day for India.

Shami too was too straight in his lines and India could have found themselves in big trouble if Shardul Thakur would not have carried on bowling with the same bite and rhythm that he bowled with in the first innings. He worked over Aiden Markram when the opener would have been hoping to get out of the rut after surviving the new ball examination from Shami. He hit the obnoxious length and left Markram all at sea for two consecutive deliveries before finding him plumb in front of the wicket.

Bumrah was not getting the help from the pitch as Rahul would have hoped for and he had to go to an injured Mohammad Siraj, who offered with control albeit without any nip off the surface or in the air.

After trying and becoming unsuccessful to stop the pair of Dean Elgar and Keegan Petersen for one more time in the second innings, Rahul went to the guile of Ravichandran Ashwin and the off-spinner did not disappoint his skipper and provided respite by beating the right-hander in length.

Rassie van der Dussen had enough doubts in his mind playing Ashwin and he would have been another wicket in the same over if the inside edge would have carried to Pujara in leg slip.

At the other end, Elgar was carrying on doing what he does best and resisted the Indian bowling attack on all fronts. He was batting with the nerve of steel to not get into the mindset of batting while thinking about an unplayable delivery that could have his name on it and treated every ball on its merit. Bumrah found his head while Shami kept on finding him hopping in the crease but there was no fuss from the Proteas skipper, who might have fixated his mind and eyes on the big prize of 118 runs that they need to win the game on the final day.

Earlier, the morning session continued the trend of being of two halves. The first half belonged completely to India as Rahane and Pujara carried on from where they left on the second day. The bowling attack comprising of Marco Janse and Kagiso Rabada continued to commit the mistake that had plagued on both the first and second day of the Test.

They were either too short and also provide the duo with a lot of freedom outside off stump to free their arms or they were trying to become swing bowlers who were trying to lure batsmen into playing drives through the off side. Both Pujara and Rahane went on to score their individual fifties and forged a partnership of more than 100 runs to set the platform from where India could bat South Africa out of the game.

However, as has been the trend in the Test, the game drifted all of a sudden in the second hour of the first session and India’s ambitions of taking an unassailable lead were torn asunder by Kagiso Rabada, who found both the fire in his eyes and mojo in his bowling.

He produced unplayable deliveries to see the backs of Rahane and Pujara and outsmarted Rishabh Pant, who wanted to stamp his authority on the game in the manner that has become his method of playing the longest format. His wicket threatened a collapse and India were staring at underachieving with the bat.

However, Shardul Thakur had other ideas and he smashed Jansen in bullish fashion to shake Proteas off what they could be dreaming of along with Hanuma Vihari, who held one innings together till he ran out of the partner. 

The game is nicely poised at the same point where the first Test was before the result day and once again Elgar is standing firm between an easy Indian victory and an ambitious victory for the Proteas. Whoever gets on the top of the game in the first session on the fourth day will write the prospect of the series and their team’s course and legacy.