Nagpur - Twenty wickets fell on the second day of the third Test match between the Proteas and India at Nagpur on Thursday, leaving the visitors with a huge mountain to climb if they are to square the series.
The 20 wickets equals the record for the most wickets to fall in a day of Test cricket on the sub-continent.
At the close of play the Proteas had made 32/2 in their second innings - one of those wickets was again night watchman Imran Tahir - leaving them to make a further 278 for victory in a match in which the highest total has been India’s first innings score of 215 and the highest individual innings being the 40 of Murali Vijay, also in the first innings.
To win the match the Proteas will have to make the highest ever score by a visiting side in the fourth innings of a Test match in India, the current best being the 276/5 of the West Indies in 1987 at Delhi, thanks to a brilliant century by Sir Viv Richards who made an unbeaten 109 off 102 balls on a turning track.
It is going to take something similar from one of the Proteas two great batsmen, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers, if this target is to be achieved.
It goes without saying that, if the Proteas do pull it off, it will be the greatest Test victory in South Africa’s history, far surpassing the 414 target at Perth which was achieved on a relatively flat pitch.
The pitch has been a lottery for batsmen throughout the match and the reason why India have managed to get ahead can be seen in the bowling statistics. The nagging accuracy of Ravi Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja has been the key factor. India conceded only seven boundaries in the South African first innings while the Proteas attack conceded 21 boundaries in the India first innings and 20 in the second.
In the circumstances JP Duminy’s contribution of 35 to the Proteas disappointing first innings total of 79, was an outstanding effort while Imran Tahir achieved his second Test career fiver in India’s second innings when he took 5/38 in 11.3 overs. His previous fifer was against Pakistan at Dubai but significantly that was in the first innings and this was in the second.
African News Agency