Twenty wickets fell on the second day of the Nagpur Test and I feel there are two reasons behind it. Yes, the pitch is a difficult one to bat on, but if you take a closer look at the dismissals, you will find that majority of the batsmen got out while trying to attack.
Nowadays you notice that on a pitch that has some life in it, some turn on it, the batsmen look to attack and not defend. The trust in your defence is slightly less and that is why you see more and more batsmen opting to attack, which is seen as the best form of defence.
I would like to add that R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja once again proved why they are so good in such conditions. They hardly bowled any loose balls whereas the South African bowlers conceded far too many.
Imran Tahir did not bowl till the 24th over and when he was finally brought on, he picked up his career’s second five-wicket haul. One reason could be that Hashim Amla would have felt the introduction of Tahir would result in runs. The question then arises is why was he included him in the team if his economy seems to be on a higher side? Credit must go to Tahir for bowling his heart out once he was handed the ball, even though he was introduced slightly late.
