The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
Sune, Laura lead SA fight, take Test into final day
FOLLOWING THEIR commanding Test wins overaustraliaandenglandlastyear,atlunchon Day 3, it appeared India were on course to repeat the same against South Africa.
Having begun the penultimate day at 236/4, the visitors perished to Sneh Rana’s record figures of 8/77 to fold for 266 as India smelt another huge innings win. But over the next couple of sessions, through Sune Luus’ 109 and an unbeaten 93 from skipper Laura Wolvaardt, South Africa managed a stunning fightback after being forced to follow on, taking the Test to the final day. At stumps on Day 3, South Africa were 232/2, still 105 runs behind India.
Unlike Mumbai – where India played their two Tests last year – the surface in Chennai tested the hosts' attack like never before. Though the pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium still had good bounce and turn, the slownessofitmeantluusandwolvaardtwere able to defend the spinners comfortably.
After the South African collapse in the morningsession,itwasindiawholookedmore upbeat. But this was a surface where they neededtheirbowlerstobenotjustdisciplined but also show enough patience. Luus and Wolvaardt, who happen to be best friends off the field, would keep India wicketless for 66 overs after Deepti Sharma got rid of opener Anneke Bosch in the eighth over.
With very little experience of playing on these types of pitches, they found their own methods to survive. In the second session, in front of 7,000-odd fans, they remained in totalcontrol,scoring95runsin34overs.england and Australia didn't manage to keep India wicketlessinasession.the190-runstandwas also the first instance of a pair putting together a partnership of 100 or more against Harmanpreet Kaur’s captaincy. Luus went on to be the first batter to score a Test century against India since Harmanpreet took charge.
Like in the first innings, where she made 65 off 164 deliveries, what stood out about Luus'battingwashertoughnesstobattleitout in unfamiliar conditions. Having started as a leg-spinner before becoming a lower-middleorder batter, she has transformed into a toporder batter, who is taking up off-spin at the moment. This was an innings that showed howfarshehascomeinthelastcoupleofyears.
And watching her friend apply herself, Wolvaardtwouldlearnherlessons.afterbeing trappedlbwtoonethatkeptlowinthefirstinnings,theopenerusedherfeeteffortlessly.and wheneverindia’sattackerredinlineorlength, the two didn’t hesitate to punish them. Wheneveritappearedliketheywereentering a shell, they managed to find a boundary as India’s shoulders began to drop. The fielding didn’t help either as Shubha Satheesh and Deepti shelled two catches each.
After all her frontline bowlers failed to break the stand, it was Harmanpreet who did thejob,managingtobreachluus’defencewith a delivery that kept low.
Rana all over
‘With increasing assistance on the pitch, are you confident of picking up the remaining South Africa wickets quickly on Day 3?' Perhaps it was too obvious a question during the press conference after a tiring day on Saturday, but Rana just looked straight ahead and smiled before eventually nodding. 'Of course, we have to be confident only,' was the shortresponse.onday3,shewastedlittletime in wrapping up South Africa's first innings, becomingonlythesecondindianandthirdoverall to pick up an 8-for in women's Test cricket. Thefirstindiantodosocouldhavebeenwatching on. Neetu David, a top spinner during her playing days, is the head of selectors now.
Even on Day 2, when South Africa fought hard to nullify India's onslaught, Rana was the best Indian bowler on display, patiently operating in the channel in and around off stump, largely trusting her stock delivery, using a hardergriptoextractabitmoreoutofthepitch.
The hard work paid dividends on Day 3. Rana got one to under-spin and beat Kapp's outside edge. The bail was trimmed and the floodgates opened. Briefscores:india603/6declvssouthafrica 266 (M Kapp 74, S Luus 65; Sneh Rana 8/55) & 232/2 (S Luus 109, L Wolvaardt 93 batting)