With a herculean task ahead of them – a target of 481 to chase with five sessions remaining in the Test match – the South African batsmen displayed one of the most stubborn and resilient batting efforts Test cricket has witnessed, on the fourth day of the Delhi Test.
The Proteas batted out 72 overs in the day, scoring exactly one run per over, with the loss of two wickets. They blocked everything within their sight, with a single-minded resolve to get glued to the crease for as long as they can. At stumps on day-four, Hashim Amla was batting on 22 off 201 balls and AB de Villiers on 11 off 91.
The Indians had not seen even a fraction of the fight the visitors’ batsmen showed this day, right through the series. And Umesh Yadav admitted that they were surprised by their opponents’ approach in their final innings of the tour. “South Africa’s strategy to defend everything did come as a surprise to us,” Umesh said. “They were not looking to play a shot at all. They were defending even the balls off which they could score.
“It gets challenging as a bowler when the batsman is not ready to do anything else but defend. Your chances of getting a wicket reduce to a great extent because even a good ball will not fetch you a wicket,” Umesh said. In South Africa’s first innings, both Umesh and Ishant Sharma played a significant role, troubling the batsmen with reverse swing and picking three wickets between them. However, the ever slowing nature of the Kotla pitch made it difficult for the pacers to generate any help from the deck.
“The wicket has gotten slower and slower with each day and we are not getting the bounce and pace that we would have liked,” he said. “Even when we are bowling bouncers, they are going in easy at the batsmen. It was a ploy for Ishant and I to come round the wicket in the afternoon session in order to create some roughs for our spinners. We were trying to get the ball to reverse but due to the lack of pace and bounce, we couldn’t. So, it made sense for us to create some help for our spinners, so that at least they can extract something from the pitch,” he said.
While Umesh credited the South African batsmen for their will of survival, he was confident India will come back on the final day and put an end to their resistance.“Such cricket becomes very boring. You run in ball after ball and nothing happens,” the Indian pacer said. “But from their point of view, they are under pressure and are looking to bat as long as possible. We will come in tomorrow and try our best to get them out as soon as we can.
“We will come in with a different strategy tomorrow to counter their defensive approach. But if they persist with this strategy of defending everything, it will be very difficult for them to see off the entire day. “Even today, a few chances were created, edges were induced. But they were lucky that the ball fell into gaps and didn’t go to the fielders. Also, the ball might even turn a bit more tomorrow, which will make it even tougher for them,” Umesh said.
