India vs South Africa, 2nd Test: Ravichandran Ashwin smooth sails through the rough

Had Kagiso Rabada not been dropped twice on successive balls, Ravichandran Ashwin would have finished with a five-wicket haul. He certainly deserved the fiver since Ashwin looked the meanest bowler on the day. In a game that has about seven pacers who can bowl anything between 145 to 150 kph, the slyest seam bowling operator and a very successful left-arm spinner; Ashwin’s intimidation of the batsmen was exemplary. It was also a commentary on the Centurion pitch, whose behaviour has left the locals puzzled.

Ashwin would start the day with a well-thought out strategy. Bowling from the pavilion end, he would go around the wicket to exploit the rough made by the Size-11 boots of Ishant Sharma.

Kohli would have a short leg, short mid-on, mid-wicket, square leg and a long leg for the overnight batsman Faf du Plessis. He would concentrate on the leg-stump, landing the ball in the rough and bothering the batsmen with the natural variation provided by the surface.

Against the left-handed Rabada, he would stick to the same line. The turn would bother the batsmen. First Kohli would fail to hold an edge and later Panday would grass an easy skier. The first time Rabada was trying to defend, later he was trying to hit out of trouble. Du Plessis almost fell to Ashwin’s plan. He tried to sweep, the ball hit the pads but he wasn’t in line.

The Indian off-spinner had a spring in his step. The pressure that Ashwin had created resulted in Ishant Sharma getting two wickets and ending the South Africa innings. The pitch continues to puzzle, even locals can’t predict its behaviour.

Pacer Lungi Ngidi, who plays for the local franchise Titans, said this surface was different. “On a typical Centurion pitch there will definitely be a lot more bounce. Seeing how the wickets fell is a good representation of how it is not a Centurion pitch. Usually at Centurion, the wickets are caught behind. The slips come into play a lot, and that hasn’t happened, which tells you then and there that it’s not a typical Centurion pitch.”

All day long, the pacers had a tough time on the wicket. South African pacers with boot sizes bigger than that of Sharma continued to run in hard and hit the crease powerfully. The rough outside the right-handers leg stump would keep getting bigger. Maybe, Ashwin might end up getting a fiver here.