Daijiworld Media Network
Johannesburg, Dec 21: Pouncing on the worn out Morkel-less South Africa attack in the last session of Day three, both Pujara and Kohli imposed themselves on the hosts with some aggressive hits. In all likelihood, India will continue in the same vein to rack up a massive lead and then have their revitalized bowlers have a crack at the Proteas. India find themselves on the cusp of creating history. Can South Africa ignite a riposte to foil their plans? Another intriguing day's play awaits us. A warm welcome to the penultimate day of this Wanderers' Test.
Pitch Report by Shaun Pollock: ''The sun has come out and it is quite dry. Lot of prominent cracks on the pitch. There is also a lot of wear and tear on it. The ball will bounce nicely. The pacers will like to pitch the ball around the 6m mark. The South African bowlers would love to target those cracks. And when the Indians come, they would like to use that to their advantage as well.''
Riding high on Cheteshwar Pujara's expertly paced ton, India have extended their lead to over 300. Virat Kohli, who compiled an equally exquisite hundred of his own in the first innings, has locked his eyes on another one. India's young guns, who were expected to implode in alien conditions, have quashed all doubts to put India in firm control of this Test.
Will India fatten their already strong lead or can the World Number one Test side reverse the script?
Murali Vijay: 'In the first innings I played a loose shot. I kept things tight today. I just wanted to get it finer, it went to the keeper (on his dismissal). Once I got in my plan was to go for the shots. Myself and Pujara played well, we wanted to play tighter, Morkel was also down. Pujara and Kohli played well. Kohli dominated the attack. The team is in a very good position but we still have to get 10 wickets'.
Vernon Philander: 'You know being a bowler less was difficult. There was more work for us, Hopefully Morne recovers quickly. You have to make a plan, it was sad to see him (Morne) go down. The wicket played nicely today.You know they (India) left well early on, wicket played well. Yeah, it was glad to get there (on being the fastest South African to reach 100 wickets). It has been two hard years at the Test level. Hopefully I will continue for South Africa. We have to strike early tomorrow and make early inroads to push them back'.
Views from the twitterati:
Pat Symcox tweets: Top batting from high quality batters today.India deserve every credit after a masterful performance.One they can be very proud of.
Russel Arnold tweets: Pujara.. Kohli.. Rohit... You have to envy Indian batting stocks!!! Business as usual or maybe better you think? #Realtest
Harsha Bhogle tweets: dare we say, the next gen indian batting is ready
Ayaz Menon tweets: His first Test century overseas,the first of many I venture. Take a bow Cheteshwar!
Bharath Seervi tweets: 50 in both Innings by Indians in SA 148 & 81 Dravid & 73 & 60 Ganguly at Johannesburg, 1997 93 & 64 Gambhir, Capetown, 2011 KOHLI today
With the luxury of Dhoni and Rohit to follow, India will set their sights on a 400 plus lead.
What transpired next was India's gen-next flourishing A.T (After Tendulkar). Earlier in the day, the Indian pacers, hunting in pairs, shred South Africa's lower order, garnering the last four wickets for only 31 runs.
After the early departure of Dhawan, both Vijay and Pujara put their heads down to ground the bowlers into dust. Vijay's judgement of what to play and what to leave was immaculate, countering his soft dismissal - strangled down leg.
Whilst the first two session witnessed attritional cricket, Cheteshwar Pujara cranked up to the top gear, hitting 96 off the 175 runs that poured in the post-tea session. Besides serving up some long hops, Tahir commited the cardinal sin of dropping a dolly catch to reprieve Pujara on 51.