25 overs South Africa 107 for 3 (de Kock 57*, de Villiers 31*, Ishant 2-19) v India
India finally showed up on the tour as they reduced a depleted South
African side to 28 for 3 before Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers did
the repair job with an unbeaten 79-run partnership for the fourth
wicket. South Africa rested three big players, chose to bat on a pitch
that would have retained a lot of moisture after a rainy week in
Centurion, and were left looking to their two form men to dig them out
of the hole.
A slow pitch with dual bounce made for the best possible conditions for
the visitors in South Africa, and they would have been in an even better
state had Ajinkya Rahane and Yuvraj Singh not dropped de Kock on 37 and
43. There was some luck for the bowlers, too, as the first wicket came
through a leg-side full toss that Hashim Amla could have hit anywhere
but ended up offering an easy catch to Yuvraj Singh at square leg.
Mohammed Shami was the fortunate bowler here, but he made full use of
the conditions by landing the ball on the seam.
At the other end, in one over, Ishant Sharma dismissed Henry Davids - in
for Jacques Kallis - and JP Duminy - batting ahead of AB de Villiers.
Both were caught sharply by Suresh Raina at second slip. The tennis-ball
bounce was conspicuous in Duminy's dismissal. It was obvious by then
that this pitch was not one you could score runs quickly on. Both de
Kock and de Villiers danced the track often to counter the slow pace,
but they still ended up dragging their straight hits squarer than they
would have liked.
De Kock showed the confidence that comes from back-to-back centuries,
and drove well down the ground every time India overpitched. One of
those shots nearly took Shami's hand with it. As the balls began to grow
softer, though, it became more and more difficult to time them. A
halftracker from Umesh Yadav went to the left of short fine leg, but
substitute Rahane couldn't hold on. When de Kock gave Ashwin the charge,
he ended up lobbing it high. Yuvraj ran back from mid-on, seemed to
have over-run it, slowed down, got two hands to the ball, but was never
stable enough to take it overhead.
De Kock was comfortable against Ravindra Jadeja, though, driving him
through extra cover for four to celebrate having reached his fifty. De
Villers lofted him for four over the same area in his next over. South
Africa would need all the runs: they had rested their two best bowlers,
Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel.
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