A flat pitch, a hot day and a marauder brought the South African attack to their knees – a virtually demoralizing experience for the bowlers. The Nawab of Najafgarh was back to what he does best – tearing attacks apart. Sehwag completed another triple ton, his previous one against Pakistan, on a perfect batting pitch on the third day of the first test in Chennai. His mind blowing innings helped India to inch closer to what was supposed to be a mammoth first innings total of 540.
The third day of the first test was no different from the first two days. The pitch continued to remain a grave yard for bowlers. Bowlers like Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn were made to look like gully cricketers as Sehwag made most of the opportunity that came his way. Viru continued from where he left on the second day in the same swashbuckling fashion. Runs were coming in leaps and bounds and the South African skipper, Smith ran out of ideas. At the other end though the runs dried up as Jaffer followed by Dravid were content to defend.
Dravid especially was too slow to start with even for test cricket his 50 coming off 151 balls. But later he began to play some exquisite drives bringing back memories of his fluent knocks in the past. But the whole day belonged to Viru as he went on to make mince meat of a good bowling attack. Sehwag took just 78 balls for his second hundred, and 84 for the third. Viru’s liking for hitting sixes were obvious with the way he hit Ntini for a huge one to reach 199, and soon lofting Harris straight down the ground to reach 297. There were three more towering hits in his innings studded with 42 fours. In the process Viru became the fastest player to reach a triple ton.
Viru would have his eyes firmly on the 400 run mark and Lara’s record score. The way the pitch is playing, only a miracle could save the SA bowlers tomorrow. Many including me felt that SA’s mammoth score could be insufficient on this pitch and the day’s proceedings seem to suggest the same. God! Save test cricket and the bowlers!
The third day of the first test was no different from the first two days. The pitch continued to remain a grave yard for bowlers. Bowlers like Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn were made to look like gully cricketers as Sehwag made most of the opportunity that came his way. Viru continued from where he left on the second day in the same swashbuckling fashion. Runs were coming in leaps and bounds and the South African skipper, Smith ran out of ideas. At the other end though the runs dried up as Jaffer followed by Dravid were content to defend.
Dravid especially was too slow to start with even for test cricket his 50 coming off 151 balls. But later he began to play some exquisite drives bringing back memories of his fluent knocks in the past. But the whole day belonged to Viru as he went on to make mince meat of a good bowling attack. Sehwag took just 78 balls for his second hundred, and 84 for the third. Viru’s liking for hitting sixes were obvious with the way he hit Ntini for a huge one to reach 199, and soon lofting Harris straight down the ground to reach 297. There were three more towering hits in his innings studded with 42 fours. In the process Viru became the fastest player to reach a triple ton.
Viru would have his eyes firmly on the 400 run mark and Lara’s record score. The way the pitch is playing, only a miracle could save the SA bowlers tomorrow. Many including me felt that SA’s mammoth score could be insufficient on this pitch and the day’s proceedings seem to suggest the same. God! Save test cricket and the bowlers!
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