SA vs IND 2018: "But you've got to be really positive and look to score."- Phehlukwayo

South African all-rounder Andile Phehlukwayo before the start of the second day’s play that it was important to find runs on a pitch which has a lot for the bowlers. The first day of the third Test at the Wanderers belonged to the hosts South Africa as they dismissed India for a mere 187 in the first innings. India bowled six overs before stumps and reduced the hosts at 6/1.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar who returned in this Test picked up the early wicket of Aiden Markram. Dean Elgar and Rabada were at the crease at stumps. Both the teams have gone into the match with an all-seam attack to exploit the conditions. Andile Phehlukwayo was included in the side in place of left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj.

Phehlukwayo picked up one wicket of Hardik Pandya and a crucial wicket of Cheteshwar Pujara who played 179 deliveries and scored 50 runs. Phehlukwayo who finished with figures of 25/2 in his 7 overs said:

“We did have a good day. Our efforts on the field were really good bar a few mistakes here and there. 180-odd is really good. The guys put the ball in the right areas and they were rewarded. It’s a really good wicket (to bowl on). But you’ve got to be really positive and look to score. You have got to get into good positions otherwise there is a ball that has your number on that type of wicket. You have to be looking ahead of the game. Their total is a decent enough total but it’s not really par. We bowled really well. If you just hang in there and try to get bowlers into 2nd and 3rd spells, you can cash in (as batsmen).” 

Pujara took 54 deliveries to get off the mark as India scored just 45 runs in the morning session:

“I looked at who was bowling at that time and Vernon (Philander) bowled eight overs for one run. As much as they were not going anyway, the bowlers did really well and maintained discipline really well. But the way Kohli and Pujara batted was really good.” 

Both Kohli and Pujara scored a contrasting half-century with Kohli looking positive from the very beginning and scored some boundaries.

“Kohli at the end was really positive, and Pujara was waiting for bad balls but he didn’t really get many. You’ve got to find a way to try and score on that wicket, and they weren’t going anywhere. If we had added two more wickets, we would have been really into the game.”

The all-rounder also added that this was a good pitch for bowlers and that the batsmen can get exposed:

“I was the fifth seamer. My job was to try and hit a length. If there’s nibble on the wicket, try and expose that. Just try to hit top of off stump, with a few bouncers and try getting reward from that.”

He concluded by saying:

“Days four and five will get quite difficult to bat. There are obvious cracks and one ball deviates a lot (off length). It will go up and down. It’s already getting quite difficult from length. If we post a good first innings score, I think it will be a good game.”

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