South Africa lose plot after Harmer, Morkel heroics

Seldom has it happened that India go into a Test match with just four bowlers. That is not what Virat Kohli is known for considering his fondness towards the five-bowler theory. However, when the surface is an absolute dust bowl such as the VCA Stadium pitch was revealed to be on Wednesday, playing an extra spinner was the way forward. Kohli made the right call of batting, after which yet another underwhelming effort saw India bowled out for 215.
With the nature of the surface deteriorating and 20 minutes to go for stumps, South Africa's foremost agenda was to go into day two without loss. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, almost to script, thwarted those plans by removing Stiian van Zyl and nightwatchman Imran Tahir, leaving the tourists at 11/2 with survival on the minds of Dean Elgar and Hashim Amla.
On a surface that threatened to possess spin demons for the batsmen, it was Morne Morkel who first left India scarred with a sublime spell of fast bowling. Morkel's bowling average in five Tests when Dale Steyn hasn't played remained over 50, before this one. And with figures of 3/30, Morkel cut a satisfied figure.
Not that India played the spinners any better. After Elgar broke the backbone of the Indian batting in Mohali, here it was Simon Harmer who ended with 4/78, adding to India's persistent struggle against spin. As India headed out at 85/2 after lunch in search of some solidarity from Cheteshwar Pujara and Kohli, the immediate wicket of the Saurashtra batsman - leg before to Harmer - led to a flurry of wickets that saw Ajinkya Rahane and Kohli picked up by Morkel in a span of two overs.
Rahane's wicket was the more surprising of the two, considering Kohli once again nicked a delivery away from his body. On a ball that was no close to a fuller length, an expansive drive from Rahane saw his off stump cartwheel. Not that it was all the batsman's fault. Morkel had set him up nicely with an away-going delivery the previous ball and followed it with one that jagged back in sharply.
A lot was expected of the Rohit Sharma-Wriddhiman Saha combination who took guard. Not only because it was the last recognised batting pair for India, but because of some strange coincidence that took place back in 2010 at the same venue. Rohit was supposed to earn his maiden Test cap, but an injury sustained while playing football during practice, paved way for Saha's debut as a specialist batsman. India's expectations were dealt with another blow when Rohit's painstaking 28-ball innings came to end.
Saha, in particularly, looked clunky against Morkel and was unable to rotate strike against the spinners. Giving him company was Jadeja, whose breezy 34 from 54 balls gave India some resistance after they had lost 5/56. Jadeja's tinge of brashness and Saha's stubbornness (32 off 106) took India past 150 before an outrageous shot off Kagiso Rabada - feet rooted to the crease - had his stumps rattled.
Saha, who has been clinical keeping wickets, hadn't proved his batting abilities as well as he would have liked to. Today was the closest he got to that. At one stage, he was nine off 47, and as the final session progressed, the Bengal wicketkeeper became confident. Here he seemed to be batting with a plan, before a lapse in concentration saw him lose his wicket for 32 soon after India had crossed 200. Ashwin and the tail failed to rally.
The extra batsman India went ahead with was Rohit, which meant that they were playing just one front-line fast bowler in Ishant Sharma. India lost Shikhar Dhawan cheaply again, and Murali Vijay about half an hour before lunch. But more importantly, the amount of turn extracted off the surface and the regular puff of dust was what comprised most of the discussion. Prediction is that this surface doesn't have the potential of lasting five days. In fact, batting fourth may be virtually impossible.
Vijay and Dhawan raised their second fifty-run opening stand of the series. Apart from Morkel, who cranked up speeds touching 145kph initially, there was hardly any assistance for the new ball bowlers. Things started to happen as soon as Harmer and Elgar were introduced in the ninth over. Harmer, operating from around the stumps due to the early foot marks that were created, induced some vicious turn and frequently rapped Vijay's pads. Elgar wasn't as much of a threat when flighting the ball, until he had Dhawan offering a sharp caught-and-bowled effort.
Vijay continued to go strong before South Africa's best bowler cut short his innings for 40. Morkel was rewarded for pitching the ball full, when he beat Vijay with a delivery that moved a shade away after pitching. The wicket shifted the impetus towards the South Africa camp and they built on it during the post-lunch and tea sessions.
Brief Scores: South Africa 11/2 (Elgar 7*; Jadeja 1/2) trail India 215 (Vijay 40; Harmer 4/78) by 204 runs