Gritty Amla keeps bowlers at bay

Hashim-Amla-02NEW DELHI : Proteas captain Hashim Amla batted through the final two sessions of the fourth day to give the Castle Lager Proteas a genuine chance of saving the fourth Test of the Freedom Series against India, and in the process regain some pride. At stumps Amla was batting on 23 along with de Villiers who is not out on 11 .

With India setting South Africa a target of 481 in a little over five sessions, the tourists never had any intention of chasing it and instead went about shutting up shop.

Amla took 46 balls – and almost an hour – to get off the mark, and went to stumps unbeaten on 23 from 207 deliveries feeling that his job for the day had very much been done.

He was ably assisted by Temba Bavuma, who batted 117 deliveries for his 34, and AB de Villiers (11 not out from 91 balls), as the Proteas closed on 72 for two from 72 overs, 43 of which were maidens.

With Amla and De Villiers at the crease and another member of the famous Adelaide rearguard, Faf du Plessis, still to come, the Proteas have the personnel to pull off another memorable escape.

Also in their favour are the conditions. The manner in which the pitch has slowed each day was reflected in the decreasing run-rate even before the fourth-innings stonewalling began.

While there is still appreciable turn, the sluggish pace off the pitch is allowing batsmen to counter it.

It is also notable that just three wickets fell on day four, the first of them when Virat Kohli was trapped lbw by Kyle Abbott for 88.

Rahane-scoring-his-second-tDespite being more than 400 runs ahead at that point, with Ajinkya Rahane on 68, Kohli opted to bat on until Rahane had reached three figures. This allowed Rahane to become the fifth Indian batsman to score centuries in both innings of a Test.

After India had declared on 267 for five, Dean Elgar fell in the fourth over of South Africa’s reply when he made the mistake of pushing at a looping delivery from offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin and was caught at slip.

Amla and Bavuma batted through the next session without any real cause for alarm, scoring just 35 runs in the 34 overs. One infographic suggested that Amla had played just a solitary attacking shot in his innings at that point.

Bavuma fell around 35 minutes into the final session when he played inside an Ashwin delivery and was bowled, but Amla and De Villiers saw out the remaining time to set up an intriguing final day of the series.

 

Brief Scores : South Africa 121 and 72 for 2 (Amla 23*, de Villiers 11*) need another 409 runs to beat India334 and 267 for 5 dec (Rahane 100*, Kohli 88, Morkel 3-51)