India vs South Africa: How Cheteshwar Pujara tamed the monstrous Johannesburg pitch and doused the hosts' fire

There was a touch of bravado about Virat Kohli’s decision to bat first on a Johannesburg pitch that top order batsmen would find more sinister than a monster sharpening its claws while stalking its prey. As expected, Vernon Philander and Morne Morkel got prodigious seam movement and bounce with the new ball in the first few overs. Even though Morkel seemed to have trouble with his radar early on, there were enough volcanic eruptions from the pitch to send jitters down the spine of India’s opening batsmen and those who were waiting in the dressing room. [caption id=“attachment_4319581” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] India’s Cheteshwar Pujara raises his bat as he celebrates a half-century during Day 1 of the 3rd Test against South Africa in Johannesburg. AFP[/caption] At the end of the day, Sunil Gavaskar said he would be rolling his eyes as an opener if his captain had won the toss and decided to bat on this pitch. He wasn’t way off, except that there was one man in that Indian dressing room who would probably have been looking forward to this duel against South Africa’s frightening pace battery on a turf tailor-made for them. Cheteshwar Pujara lives for these opportunities to tame such wild monsters. Pujara came in at the fall of KL Rahul’s wicket and started doing what he does best at the start. Plan A: duck, swerve, leave, evade. Plan B: defend, dead bat, protect. Tire down the monster and maybe, later on, you can attack with some measured blows if you survive long enough. To survive long enough, you need luck, and Pujara got that in the form of a close LBW call that could have gone either way. You knew Pujara was enjoying the battle from the way he was smiling at his skipper at the other end after playing at and missing a few unplayable deliveries from Philander and Kagiso Rabada. A lesser batsman would replay that in his mind and allow it to cloud his judgment while facing the next delivery. But Pujara was putting the near misses behind him and taking on the next challenge with an uncluttered mind. The broadest smile came out when Pujara finally got off the mark after facing 54 balls. His captain and the entire Indian contingent joined him. It reminded of a certain Rahul Dravid raising his bat to the crowd at Sydney in 2008 after taking 40 balls to move from a score of 18 to 19 while VVS Laxman at the other end was scoring at almost a run a ball. While the crowd would be seeing the funny side of such incidents, the dressing room loves seeing someone battle it out for the team. Every ball Pujara defended made it easier for the batsmen coming in to bat after him given that the ball would have been older and bowlers that much more tired. Kohli at the other end was taking more chances, and with luck on his side, the pair managed to go to lunch with just two wickets down, a massive win on this pitch. In familiar style, Pujara got busy after lunch, collecting two consecutive boundaries against Philander with his favourite cut shot and later drilled the same bowler back past him as he overpitched. You can never line up a bowler on a pitch like this, but Pujara knew he could chance his arm a bit more and cash in on the start now. Pujara, the punisher of loose balls was unleashed and for a while, even the ferocious monster under this pitch seemed to have its tail between its legs. One wondered how the second Test and the series may have panned out for Pujara if it wasn’t for the two run outs at the Centurion. At the other end, Virat Kohli’s luck ran out soon after scoring a fifty and Ajinkya Rahane never looked settled during his brief stay. Pujara was unfazed at the other end and kept exhibiting his usual calm. The scoring rate picked up as Pujara managed to collect a boundary every over for a brief period against Lungi Ngidi, taking advantage of anything that was either too short or too full. He reached his 50 after facing 178 balls. It’s hard to think of another batsman in world cricket now who can match the kind of grit and resolve Pujara showed in this innings. Perhaps, it helps that he is almost one of his kind in world cricket, an out and out Test specialist. Pujara’s wicket immediately triggered a mini-collapse which further proved the importance of Pujara’s patience for India. Even the 30 that Bhuvneshwar Kumar scored at the end might not have been possible if Pujara hadn’t worn out the ball and bowlers before. Some would say Pujara got out after doing all the hard work, but as the batsman himself noted at the end of the day, you are never in on this pitch. He also called it one of the toughest pitches he had ever batted on. From the evidence on TV, one would have to agree. The pitch never stopped assisting the seamers even when the ball got older and that gives the Indian seamers a chance to dismiss South Africa cheaply. India had done the same during their first Test victory on South African soil at the same ground back in 2006 when they got 249, a par score on that pitch, but came back to dismiss South Africa for 84. Even though the Johannesburg Test is a dead rubber, India would give everything they have got on Day 2. Kohli would know that a win or even a close fight in this Test would go a long way in getting the critics off his back and set the tone for this team for the upcoming overseas series.