Rohit's third ton puts India back on track

Rohit Sharma scored his third century of the series which saw India reclaim complete control of the match by recovering from 39-3 to 224-3 by the close of play on the first day of the third test against South Africa at the JSCA International Stadium in Ranchi on Saturday.

Rohit was unbeaten on 117 from just 164 deliveries with 14 fours and four sixes as South Africa endured 43 wicketless overs after striking thrice inside the first 16 overs after India won the toss and chose to bat first.

Rohit’s partner in an unbroken fourth-wicket stand of 185, Ajinkya Rahane, led a formidable counter-attack for the home side after lunch which was taken at 71-3. A flurry of boundaries against debutant spinner George Linde and offspinner Dane Piedt, whose six overs cost 43 runs, ripped control from the tourists .

Rahane was unbeaten on 83 at the close having faced 135 balls and struck 11 fours and a six.

The morning session was dominated by a fiery spell of fast bowling from Kagiso Rabada who swung the ball both ways at high pace and enjoyed his first success when opener Mayank Agarwal (10) edged a delivery to third slip where Dean Elgar took an fine, low catch.

Cheteshwar Pujara was then trapped lbw after an excellent set-up from Rabada who delivered a series of rapid outswingers before the ball that nipped back to dismiss the batsman lbw for a nine-ball duck.

Captain Virat Kohli became the third wicket of the session when Anrich Nortje, in a much-improved performance from his wicketless debut last week, also made use of the inswinger to claim his first test wicket. Kohli was lbw for 12 from 22 balls.

Rohit was, in fact, given out lbw to Lungi Ngidi but survived on review thanks to a thin inside edge but otherwise offered no chances and continued his imperious form in his new role at the top of the order.

Rabada has produced several excellent spells in the series without reward but was fully deserving of even better analysis than the 14-5-54-2 that he currently has.

'I ENJOYED IT VERY MUCH'

After the day's play, Nortje commented, “We were definitely better than in the previous test but, unfortunately, we couldn’t get another wicket or two, it would have been nice to have them four or five down by the close.”

“In general it was a good effort by the bowlers. There was a little bit in the pitch this morning and we tried to utilise it but there were a few spells which didn’t quite go our way.

Nortje was understandably chuffed with his maiden test wicket, that of Kohli. “I was just trying to get a wicket anywhere but to get him was unbelievable. I enjoyed it very much. I just wanted to keep the plan simple, build as much pressure as possible and I finally got the wicket.

“At lower levels of the game you can, perhaps, get away with one or two bad balls but at test level, they get put away. That’s the biggest thing I’ve learned, the importance of being consistent and building pressure on the batsmen,” Nortje said.

South Africa made five changes to their starting XI with Quinton de Kock playing as a specialist opening batsman and Heinrich Klaasen keeping wicket. Left-arm spinner George Linde is making his debut while Piedt was recalled in place of Senuran Muthusamy and Lungisani Ngidi was preferred to Vernon Philander.

INDIA: Mayank Agarwal, Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (capt), Ajinkya Rahane, Ravindra Jadeja, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shahbaz Nadeem, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami

SOUTH AFRICA: Dean Elgar, Quinton de Kock, Zubayr Hamza, Faf du Plessis (capt), Temba Bavuma, Heinrich Klaasen (wk), George Linde, Dane Piedt, Kagiso Rabada, Anrich Nortje, Lungi Ngidi