It has been a long time since last time when the world of cricket has witnessed such a dominating performance from India outside the sub-continent. And the credit must go to the whole team as they have performed as a unit. The hard work put in by the batsmen on the first day of the test was well backed up by some brilliant bowling on the second day. Even on the third day the good job done by the bowlers was well supported by the batsmen. The neat result is that India is in a very strong position and can think of winning this match.
The start of the play on the third day saw the Indian bowlers picking up the 4 four South African wickets. Zaheer Khan did the job this time as he wiped away the tail of the South African batting line-up with three more wickets. While Zaheer picked up 4 in the innings, Ishant Sharma had 4 scalps recorded beside his name as he added one more to the three that he had on the previous day. South Africa was bowled out for 244 giving India a valuable lead of 36 runs. The only good thing that happened for SA was that Vernon Philander completed his half-century before getting out on 59.
As the Indians came out to bat in the second innings the positive intent in their mindset was made clear with Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay showing controlled aggression. Dhawan got out early for the second time in the match nicking one to the slip cordon off Vernon Philander when he was batting well on 15. It was also Philander’s 100th test wicket and he has achieved the feat in 20 matches, one less than that of Dale Steyn. After the fall of the first wicket, in came Cheteshwar Pujara. He along with Vijay steadies the ship for India putting up a solid partnership of 69 runs. Vijay (36) was a bit unlucky while he edged one to the keeper while trying to glance the ball off the legs, fine enough to collect a boundary. De Villiers took a good catch diving to his left as Kallis rejoiced for breaking the partnership.
However there was no respite for the Proteans as Virat Kohli came on and began from where he left in the first innings. He made capital of the platform set by Vijay and Pujara and began scoring runs freely. None of the South African bowlers looked like picking up a wicket. Things worsened for the home team when their frontline pacer Morne Morkel twisted his while fielding at the third-man area. Such was the condition of the injury that he was carried off the field on the shoulders of his teammates. SA went a bowler down and they lost someone who looked the most threatening in the first innings. The injury of Morkel went in favour of the Indians as they began scoring 
more freely. Steyn was also not on his own as he could not trouble the Indians.
At the end of the day India is sitting pretty having taken a lead of 320 runs having 8 wickets in hand. Pujara is not out on 135 and Virat Kohli on 77. Both of them are looking good for piling up some more runs. Pujara who has played with patience throughout the day was dropped on 51 by leg-spinner Imran Tahir and it did hurt SA a lot. There were too many freebies from the Protean bowlers and Kohli and Pujara cashed in on those loose balls. Such was the dominance of the Indian duo that the scoring rate swelled up to more than 5 runs an over in the post-tea session.
India will look forward to increase the lead to as many runs as possible on the fourth day. The only thing that can help the South Africans is that the new ball will be available within the first couple of overs after the start of the day’s play. So the battle is yet to be won for the Indians.
Tags: 1st test Cheteshwar Pujara Dale Steyn De Villiers India vs South Africa Ishant Sharma Morne Morkel Murali Vijay Shikhar Dhawan Vernon Philander Virat Kohli Zaheer Khan
