India vs South Africa, 3rd Test: Spicy wicket and rain forecast widens corridor of uncertainty at Wanderers

India have the edge in Wanderers Test but there are way too many cracks on the wicket and several dark clouds hovering above to know how this is going to end.

An overcast Wanderers morning can change the game. (Source: BCCI)

Hashim Amla was asked how the pitch would behave considering there was forecast of rains tomorrow (Friday). Surviving for 121 balls and scoring 61 made made you special but still predicting the behaviour of this difficult Wanderers pitch was beyond anyone. Amla would let it pass with a philosophical reply: “Are you asking about the future, (for) how am I supposed to know that?”

That said a lot about the match-situation of the final Test match of the series that South Africa has already pocketed. There were way too many variables to decide when or who will win this game or even who the front-runner was. At 41/1, India seemed to have an edge. But there are way too many cracks on the wicket and several dark clouds hovering above to know how this is going to end.

And this after India had the best day of the tour so far. The Indian dressing room was wise. On this very lively pitch with variable bounce — commentators Sunil Gavaskar and Shaun Pollock have been critical about it saying it isn’t suited for Test cricket — India wasn’t really jumping the gun.

Jasprit Bumrah, after the match, was guarded, like he always is at press conferences. “Match is in balance right now. It could be anybody’s game,” he said displaying his customary restrained optimism.

Even the man who spent the most time on this pitch today, Hashim Amla — he was out there in the middle all day except for the first six overs — didn’t know who was in the driver’s seat. “I think it’s very evenly poised. I think they are 30 or 40 ahead, anything can happen tomorrow morning. Even if we have to chase 300, it’s fine because we have to do our best to get there,” said the man who scored 61, an effort that would have got him at least a hundred at another venue.

Amla could have run away with the game, but Bumrah changed it. His five wickets were responsible for South Africa’s slender lead.

On the day, there were several other small victories for India. The new-ball bowlers Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were virtually unplayable. Later with the old ball, they stuck to their plan and didn’t let the tailenders flourish. A series of short balls allowed only Vernon Philander to be among runs.

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However, there was something more joyous happening to India in the last one hour.

The Indians, on this tour, have had many bowling feats but the batting efforts have been few. However, the most pleasing reading for the visitors would have been India’s score at stumps on Day 2.

In the 17 overs they faced towards the end of the day’s play, India managed 49 runs, and most importantly lost just one wicket. That too of Parthiv Patel, the night watchman of sorts who came in as an opener and made 16 at a strike rate of over 100.

However, an overcast Wanderers morning can change the game. Even Amla, the scorer of the game’s highest score yet, spoke about the difficulty of scoring runs on “probably one of the toughest pitches” he had played on.

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Amla said that there was nowhere to hide here. “It’s quite a spicy wicket. No one can hide from the fact that you can get out any ball,” he said.

There is a lot of life in this dead rubber, a lot can happen on a cloudy morning at Wanderers.

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