IND vs SA, 1st Test, Day 4: Rohit Sets Tempo With Another Hundred

Rohit finished on 127 (149 balls, 10 fours and 7 sixes), helping his side to score 140 without losing a wicket in the extended second session

Rohit Sharma scored back-to-back hundred to ensure India to regain a firm control on the opening Test match against South Africa in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. The Proteas earlier did their best to restrict India’s first-innings lead to just 71 runs and the home side needed to score quickly to give themselves a chance to have a second crack at the visiting batsmen before the close of play on day four. And that is exactly what Rohit enabled Team India to do. He finished on 127 (149 balls, 10 fours and 7 sixes), helping his side to score 140 without losing a wicket in the extended second session and then a further 148 off just 19 overs when they really put the hammer down in the lead-up to the declaration. It left South Africa with a target of 395 runs in maximum 107 overs, something that no visiting side ever managed to score-chasing a target in the fourth innings of a Test match on Indian soil. The declaration could have come a little earlier but skipper Virat Kohli perhaps didn't want to take any chance after South Africa's valiant batting effort in the first innings. India kept the pressure on the Proteas in the nine overs that were bowled before bad light brought a slightly early close. Ravindra Jadeja dismissed first-innings centurion Dean Elgar and the Proteas closed on 11/1, requiring a mammoth 384 to win. Will they go for a victory? The probability looks less as the pitch is turning quite a bit and often keeping low. Surviving the remaining 98 overs looks distinctly possible but certainly not easy. Apart from Sharma, the standout players for India on the day were Ravi Ashwin, who took the last two remaining wickets in the Proteas first innings to finish with seven in the innings although he had to bowl 46.2 overs to achieve that, and Cheteshwar Pujara who returned to form with an innings of 81 (148 balls, 13 fours and 2 sixes) and shared a partnership of 169 for the second wicket with Sharma. As had happened in the first innings, it took a superb delivery from Vernon Philander to claim his wicket. While the Proteas will be happy with the way their batting is gelling, there will be a concern at the manner in which all three their spinners came under the pump with only Dane Piedt managing to bowl some maiden overs. India have lost only 11 wickets in the match and that is something to address in the build-up to the second test. It was not reflected in his figures but Kagiso Rabada was the pick of the South African attack. Keshav Maharaj’s five wickets in the match take his career total to 99 and put him on the brink of becoming the 18th member of the distinguished 100 club.