Despite Dean Elgar’s falling right towards the end of the day, South qAfrica look like the more comfortable side going into Day 4 of the third and final Test. With all to play for on Day 4, Indian bowlers will need to step up their efforts if they wish to create history and win their first ever Test series on South African soil. In order to do that, Team India will need to pick up eight wickets whereas the home side need 111 more runs for a win.
After being bundled out for just 198 runs in the second innings, India failed to make inroads with the ball. Although Mohammad Shami sent Aiden Markram back to the pavilion quite early, the partnership of Dean Elgar and Keegan Petersen proved to be very frustrating. Not only did the duo pile on runs, but they also managed to survive plenty of scares and had plenty of fortune.
Indian bowling coach Paras Mhambrey praised his side’s bowling efforts but mentioned that they should’ve picked up at least a couple of more wickets before Stumps. “I think we bowled well. Yes, we could have easily picked up couple of wickets. The ball popped up, hit the glove, landed here and there, missed those edges, but we could have easily picked up couple of more wickets,” he said at the end of day’s press conference.
South Africa seemed to be in cruise control with Dean Elgar and Keegan Petersen at the crease. Their 78-run partnership proved to be menacing before Bumrah broke the alliance with the South African captain getting caught down the leg side. Elgar’s dismissal came as a breath of fresh air and Paras Mhambrey highlighted that the pace attack needs to be patient while consistently hitting the right areas on Day 4.
“It was important that we picked up a wicket, that too of Dean. Yeah they did score well, I thought at one stage, it looked like it was getting tight. But thankfully finished the day with a wicket, and that’s what you want – at times, you want that kind of a breakthrough. It’s pretty simple – we got to go out there and bowl well and try our best, pick up those wickets.
“There’s still something up and down on the wicket – if you hit the right areas, there’s still something happening with the ball and that’s going to be encouraging in the morning. So first session is critical for us, just go out there and from a bowling perspective, just hit the right areas and be a little more patient,” Mhambrey elaborated.
