IND vs SA: Rishabh is Pantastic!

Rishabh Pant was fearless without being careless during a brilliant hundred in the most adverse circumstances but South Africa were on course for a memorable series win against India on a day when visiting skipper Virat Kohli was left fuming due to a contentious DRS decision in the third and final Test herePantrsquos 100 not out off 139 balls fourth Test ton constituted for more than 50 per cent of Indiarsquos shoddy second innings total of 198 with Kohlirsquos 29 off 143 balls being the second highest scoreWith an easy target of 212 to chase South Africa were 101 for 2 at stumps as their dogged skipper Dean Elgar 30 was finally out tickling down the leg side giving India some breathing space going into the fourth and probably the final day of the seriesWith 111 runs left the match is expected to end early on Friday either way but at this moment Proteas look way ahead With eight batters failing to reach even double figures no amount of excuses would be enough for India when they analyse the below par show along with the new team managementrsquos decision to carry overthehill out of form seniors which only compounded problems This was the first Test match in 145yearhistory where all 20 batters of a team were caughtDRS howlerIt was in the 21st over that R Ashwin flighted one that straightened enough after pitching as Elgar was beaten trying to play a forward defensive stroke Straight umpire Marais Erasmus gave it leg before but Elgar went for DRS which surprisingly ruled that the ball would miss the leg stumpIt seemed a howler and more so a technical one rather than umpiring which left the Indian team very angryKohli loses coolFunnily enough Elgar after seeing that he was beaten had started walking before he came back An angry Kohli kicked the ground in disgust and then used the stump microphone to good effectOne of the players even said ldquoWhole country is against eleven playersrdquo Another one chimed in to say ldquobroadcasters are here to make money boysrdquo For some time the bowlers lost focus before getting Elgar at the fag end of the dayThe day belonged to Pant as he scored a hundred which was as good as one would ever see and what stood out was his immaculate shot selection He was aggressive without being reckless and fearless without being carelessThere was a rasping square cut off a rising one from Kagiso Rabada 353 There was the audacious down the track cover drive off Duanne Olivier and that six over longon off Keshav Maharaj came just an over before lunch These were all shots that one associates with the dashing keeperbatter but what was exemplary was his use of discretion as to what kind of deliveries he would attackHe drove Maharaj out of the attack with a onehanded slog sweep and a six over longoff1Rishabh Pant became the first Asian wicketkeeper to score a Test ton in SABrief scoresIndia 223 amp 198 R Pant 100 V Kohli 29 M Jansen 436 L Ngidi 321 K Rabada 353 v SA 210 amp 1012 K Petersen 48 batting D Elgar 30This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever