Ken Borland

India owe numerous debts of gratitude to their captain Virat Kohli, who batted for four-and-a-half hours and wrestled them to 223 all out with his defiant innings of 79, but his conqueror, Kagiso Rabada, said the secret to his and South Africa’s success on the first day of the decisive third Test at Newlands on Tuesday was not coming up with any special plans but rather being relentless in their basics.

Rabada was outstanding in his 50^th Test and actually deserved better than his final figures of 4/73 in 22 overs on Tuesday, such was the quality of his fast bowling. His tussle with Kohli was dazzling at times, and South Africa’s talismanic fast bowler eventually won the day when he had the great batsman caught behind as the penultimate wicket of the innings.

“Kohli batted extremely well and he was very patient with leaving the ball,” Rabada said. “People think we have such wicked plans but it was all about bowling a good line and length, being relentless and resilient.

“I wasn’t going for his pads obviously. I was just trying to get the ball to swing away, that’s where he’s been getting out lately, and the important thing was to just stick at it.

“Bowling very seldom feels perfect, but it was a good day for me. I just tried to be as consistent as possible. Nothing changes, I’m just trying to do the same thing.

“Things went my way today, I feel good about the way I bowled and it was a decent day,” Rabada said with some modesty.

India chose to bat first with dark clouds enveloping the ground and a greenish tinge to the pitch. Armed with the hard, red new ball, Rabada and Duanne Olivier made life hard for them from the outset.

But although there was movement and some steep bounce, Rabada said the Newlands pitch is not exactly poisonous. South Africa, batting under clear blue skies, had reached 17/1 in the eight overs they faced before stumps.

“There’s still quite a bit in the pitch, but it looks a proper Test wicket. Batsmen will have to grind, but the bowlers still have to bowl well. We have no control over conditions, but I don’t think it’s going to get much easier for batsmen tomorrow [Wednesday],” Rabada said.

The 26-year-old, who took his tally to 230 Test wickets, was in his element on Tuesday. His action was liquid smooth, his accuracy superb and the ball was talking.

India have a couple of mean fast bowlers of their own though, and South Africa’s batting line-up are going to have to support their bowlers now and do well as a unit.

Virat Kohli was able to consolidate and defy for more than four-and-a-half hours, but the rest of the Indian batting line-up was broken down by an excellent Proteas attack led by an inspired Kagiso Rabada on the first day of the decisive third Test at Newlands on Tuesday.

India had won the toss and elected to bat first, under gloomy skies with the floodlights on, and they were bowled out for just 223 despite Kohli’s determined innings of 79 in 273 minutes off 201 balls.

Rabada, playing his 50^th Test, was superb and his final figures of 4/73 in 22 overs would have been even better with a bit more luck. The talismanic fast bowler was constantly probing the outside edge from a perfect length and used the short ball to good effect as well. His tussle with Kohli was especially gripping, and Rabada eventually dismissed him to claim the penultimate wicket, having the Indian captain caught behind by Kyle Verreynne, who took five catches on Tuesday.

Left-arm paceman Marco Jansen continued to cement his place in  the Proteas team as he took 3/55 in 18 overs and Duanne Olivier also bowled better than his final figures of 1/42 in 18 overs.

Rabada and Olivier were excellent with the new ball and removed openers Lokesh Rahul (12) and Mayank Agarwal (15) in successive overs.

Cheteshwar Pujara (43) and Kohli then consolidated with a third-wicket stand of 62 before Jansen had Pujara caught behind with a fine delivery that held its line from around the wicket.

Rishabh Pant (27) tried to temper his aggression with the bat, but eventually cut Jansen, getting extra bounce, straight to gully.

When the wind switched to south-easterly, the weather began to clear, but left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, bowling into the breeze, deceived Shardul Thakur in the flight and had him caught low down at short extra cover by Keegan Petersen for 12, leaving India on 205/7.

South Africa then successfully prevented Kohli, who was batting with the skill of yore, from making hay with the fast bowlers as Rabada and Lungi Ngidi (14.3-7-33-1) wrapped up the innings at 5.16pm.

Proteas captain Dean Elgar, prodding towards mid-on as Jasprit Bumrah angled the ball across the left-hander, was caught in the slips for just three, but Aiden Markram (8*) and Keshav Maharaj (6*) made it through to stumps on 17/1.

The ball is now very much in your court, South African batting line-up.

After two low-scoring matches at Centurion and the Wanderers, former Proteas spinner Paul Harris says he is looking forward to a better pitch at Newlands, helping South Africa’s batsmen in building a big total in the third and decisive Test starting in Cape Town on Tuesday.

South Africa were dismissed for 197 and 191 in losing the first Test by 113 runs, and then made 229 in the first innings of the second Test, before a highly-encouraging 243/3 took them to victory. Dean Elgar’s matchwinning 96 not out is the Proteas’ highest score in the series and they have made three other half-centuries. Lokesh Rahul’s decisive 123 in the first Test is India’s only century.

“It will be interesting to see what the Newlands pitch is like,” Harris told The Dot Ball Podcast. “It can be flat or it can do a bit, and it used to provide some spin too.

“I think we’ve had two poor pitches so far, with too much sideways movement. So there have not been a lot of hundreds and it would be nice to see someone get in and score big.

“We play bounce well, so what you want is good bounce and carry. A good old-fashioned wicket, where you can play normal Test cricket and we can see a couple of hundreds.

“Dean has showed that he wants the team to play tough cricket, but I think on better pitches we will see the South African batsmen start scoring some big runs,” Harris said.

In terms of the batting line-up, Harris, who took 103 wickets in 37 Tests, says Aiden Markram is a rare talent who should continue open the batting, although with maybe a slight technical change, while he would also like to see the batting order tweaked.

“We need to give Aiden a bit of grace because these pitches so far this series have been a bit of a lottery. If he does move down to four, the problem then is who opens and who is left out for him?

“The only thing is I’m not 100% sure about him batting on off stump, because when the ball nips back then he’s out.

“I would love to see Temba Bavuma bat at three though. He’s obviously worked really hard on his technique and of late he’s been in incredible form. He’s a senior player and has the best technique for No.3.

“That would allow a novice like Keegan Petersen to bat five. Moving Temba to three would give him the best chance of scoring those hundreds everyone is on about. He’s often ended up batting with the tail,” Harris said.

South Africa were too good for India in the second Test at the Wanderers, even the tourists’ coach Rahul Dravid making that admission, but the Proteas know they will need to execute a similar game-plan even better at Newlands, where the third and decisive Test starts on Tuesday.

South Africa won a thrilling second Test by seven wickets, chasing down a daunting target of 240.

“We weren’t complacent at any stage, the players were very switched on and right until the last day, we were winning the game. But South Africa played better than us on the last day,” Dravid admitted.

“We know South Africa are a very good side in their home conditions, even though the rankings might tell something else. It was always going to be a very tough series, but we have no excuses.

“We were outplayed in this Test and South Africa fully deserved the win,” Dravid said.

Proteas captain Dean Elgar, the hero of the victory with his epic 96 not out in the final innings, was already looking forward to taking their momentum to Cape Town.

“This was a massive positive move, a step in the right direction,” Elgar said. “It was a confidence-booster for a lot of players, but there are still going to be a lot of challenges in the next Test.

“We were pushed to different boundaries and the guys came up with some massive plans in tough conditions. We are emphasising the basics and we focused on the areas that weren’t good enough.

“We will have the same kind of plan for Cape Town, our game-plan is not going to change much,” Elgar said.

Dravid did mention the injury to paceman Mohammad Siraj, who strained his hamstring on the first evening, and having to bowl with a damp ball in the final session after it had rained for much of the fourth day, as also playing a role in their first defeat in six matches at the Wanderers.

“Losing Siraj and him not being 100% fit right through set us back a bit. We weren’t able to use the fifth bowler as much as we would have liked.

“And then the outfield was wet which made the ball wet. We rely a lot on swing bowling, but the seam just got wet and softer. But the South African batsmen played really well and cashed in on their opportunities.

“We kiss the pitch more, we pitch the ball up and look for swing. But the Proteas have a slight natural height advantage and that extra height on an up-and-down pitch made a little bit of difference.

“We saw quite a few balls spit up and hit the gloves, the pitch seemed to misbehave a bit more for them,” Dravid said.