Triple Whammy

Ranchi, October 19

Rohit Sharma continued his sensational run as a Test opener with his third hundred of the series, helping India to recover from a disastrous 39/3 on the first day of the third Test against South Africa here. India were 224 for three when bad light and rain forced an early end to the day’s play.

Rohit, unbeaten on 117 off 164 balls, put up an unbeaten stand of 185 with Ajinkya Rahane (83 off 135) to stage the home team’s remarkable recovery after losing three frontline batsmen. With this, Rohit became the first Indian opener since Sunil Gavaskar to score three or more centuries in a Test series. Gavaskar had achieved the feat three times, in 1971, 1977-78 and 1978-79.

Rohit’s sixth Test century came with a massive six off spinner Dane Piedt. Rohit was cautious when Kagiso Rabada was bowling very well with the new ball in the morning, but later he went for his strokes. If that was not enough, Rahane matched him at the other end and brought up his 21st half-century off just 70 balls. Such was the Indian duo’s dominance after lunch that Rabada, who had a fiery opening spell of 7-4-15-2, looked listless in the second spell that read 4-0-30-0.

Piedt, who replaced Senuran Muthusamy in the XI, seemed helpless against Rohit’s fury, giving away 43 runs in six overs. Debutant left-arm spinner George Linde, who replaced the injured Keshav Maharaj, ended the day with tidy figures of 11-1-40-0. Rahane matched Rohit shot for shot and notched up his fastest half-century in India. At one point, Rahane had a better strike rate than his explosive Mumbai partner.

Tough start

Rohit had been tested in the opening session as he survived on seven after reviewing an LBW decision against him. He also survived a run out chance when he was out of the crease but Zubayr Hamza’s throw from point missed the stumps.

Uneven bounce, with a few balls staying really low, troubled India in the morning as Rabada and Lungi Ngidi made full use of the conditions to give the visitors their best start of the series. Rabada got rid of opener Mayank Agarwal (10) and Cheteshwar Pujara (0) within the first hour. Agarwal edged one that swung away, while Pujara was given out LBW after the South Africans reviewed the not-out decision given by on-field umpire Richard Illingworth.

But it was Nortje who earned the biggest Indian wicket when he sent back Pune Test double centurion Virat Kohli after the skipper failed to read one that came in sharply and was given out LBW. Kohli reviewed the decision but had to walk back to the pavilion.

296th for India

Earlier, 30-year-old left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem became the 296th player to represent India when he was handed a surprise Test debut less than 24 hours after being included in the squad in place of the injured Kuldeep Yadav.

South African captain Faf du Plessis made as many as five changes to his team with two players — Maharaj and Aiden Markram — being forced out due to injuries. In came Ngidi, Hamza, Heinrich Klaasen, Linde and Piedt. Vernon Philander, Theunis de Bruyn and Muthusamy were dropped. — PTI

Scoreboard

India 1st innings

M Agarwal c Elgar b Rabada 10

R Sharma not out 117

C Pujara lbw b Rabada 0

V Kohli lbw b Nortje 12

A Rahane not out 83

Extras: (b-1, nb-1) 2

Total: (For 3 wickets, 58 overs) 224

Fall of wickets: 1-12, 2-16, 3-39

Bowling

Kagiso Rabada 14-5-54-2

Lungi Ngidi 11-4-36-0

Anrich Nortje 16-3-50-1

George Linde 11-1-40-0

Dane Piedt 6-0-43-0