A combined score of 229 for 12 in 88 overs on the first day of a Test match: That’s not something you get to see often in a country as batting friendly as India. But that’s exactly what happened in Mohali. To add to the surprise, nine of those wickets went to spin, on a pitch traditionally known to please the seamers.
Virat Kohli’s luck with the toss in this Test would come in more than handy for the Indians even as they managed only 201 runs on the board batting first. While they would be disappointed with their batting effort – especially for giving away four wickets to South Africa’s part-time spinner, Dean Elgar – they can count on their three spinners, R Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja, to make the total bigger than it is.
In the context of India’s overall innings, what stood out was Murali Vijay’s dogged effort of 75. Like he has, in the last two years, the opener carried the team’s batting bastion when the empire was falling down around him. Lower-order cameos from R Ashwin (20*) and Ravindra Jadeja (38) ensured the team did cross the 200-run mark, and with a strike each with the ball they pulled back the game in India’s direction a bit.
India’s batting coach, Sanjay Bangar, reflecting on his wards’ performances in a chat with BCCI.TV, said the team would have liked to take their total to 275. He, however, was also confident the bowlers will sneak India right back into the game.
How do you assess India’s batting performance today?
It is a very challenging wicket to bat on and run-making is not easy on this wicket. The total of 200 doesn’t look big but its worth is far more than the number itself. Their batsmen too found scoring very tough. We definitely would have liked 70-75 more runs on the board but we can play with this.
Was Dean Elgar’s left-arm spin a surprise factor?
All our batsmen knew that he is someone who bowls really slow in the air. During that particular spell he managed to deceive some of our batsmen in the flight. Also, some of his balls straightened up. I thought the ball that Pujara got was the best ball a left-arm spinner could bowl.
A word on Vijay’s knock? He was the calm amid the chaos.
It was a special effort from him. He has come off an injury and didn’t get to play too many first-class matches. Before the start of this game he was feeling a bit rusty. But he works on his game really hard. It was very heartening to see him fight it out like that. An opener’s job is very difficult. You require someone to anchor the innings and that has been Vijay’s strength. He has achieved so much in the last two years in foreign conditions and now he got 75 here. He was well on course to making a substantial contribution today. He was disappointed for getting out when he did, and not score a big one for the team. But his hallmark is his consistency. I am sure the rustiness is gone now and this innings will help him a lot when he comes out to bat in the second innings.
Does going in with five bowlers change the mindset of the top five batsmen in any way?
It does, definitely. What it does is, once a batsman crosses a landmark, he does not relax. He knows he has to carry on because there is one less batsman in the team. All our batsmen are keen to do that. If a batsman makes 50 more runs after getting to his hundred, it makes a lot of impact. That is where the responsibility factor comes in. And all our batsmen are aware of that. There is also an advantage of playing five bowlers. You may have a lesser score to defend but you have that extra bowler in your armoury to defend it.
Talk about how R Ashwin has been working on his batting with you. He wasn’t quite fulfilling his batting potential in the last couple of years. But now he seems to be more fluent. He scored a fifty in Sri Lanka and was unbeaten today at 20.
He works a lot on his game – all aspects of it. He is a very intelligent young man and he wants to get better. Whatever changes we advice him, he wants a real good explanation for it. That is always good. If you have a student like him, who doesn’t take anything at face value, it also means that whatever we pass on to him is sharp and to-the-point. Once he is convinced about whatever inputs we give him, he takes it on board and works very hard on it. Recently when he was injured during the ODI series, he wasn’t in a position to bowl but he worked very hard on his batting. There are certain aspects of his batting we are working on and he does look very comfortable batting out there.
Ravindra Jadeja is making a comeback and he is coming off a dream run in the Ranji Trophy (38 wickets in four matches). The confidence really showed in his bowling and batting today, didn’t it?
It surely did. He looked very calm and assured with the bat. He looked to be hitting the ball really well, the batting rhythm was there and he was moving well against both fast bowlers and spinners. I think the confidence he gained by going back and playing at the domestic circuit really came to the fore today. Had it not been for his contribution of 38 runs lower down the order, we would have found ourselves in a more challenging situation.
