Day 2 Lunch: Gill, Reddy take India to 427 for 4
New Delhi (PTI): Skipper Shubman Gill treated the West Indies bowlers with utter disdain while inching closer to his 10th Test hundred as India piled on the visitors’ misery, reaching 427 for four at lunch on the second day of the second Test here on Saturday. At the break, Gill was batting on 75 in company of Dhruv Jurel (7 batting).
Even as Yashasvi Jaiswal (175, 258 balls) was unfortunately run-out at the start of the day, Gill's concentration didn't waver with his boundary count reaching 11 fours along with a maximum, going into the break.
Nitish Kumar Reddy (43 off 54 balls), promoted to get some valuable batting time and prop up the score in quick time, added 91 for the fourth wicket in just 17.1 overs.
The best shot of the morning session and that too by a distance was the one that brought up Gill's second fifty of the series. With a packed off-side field, Jayden Seales bowled on middle-leg with Gill flicking it through the vacant mid-wicket region. When Justin Greaves was brought into the attack, his lack of pace allowed Gill to step out and loft him over mid-wicket for his first six.
Gill, who had decided to defend during the final hour of the opening day, came out with a different mindset.
It only helped that Anderson Phillip sprayed all over and was hit for a flurry of boundaries. A delivery on the pads was quickly dispatched behind square on the leg-side.
In his next over, Phillip was cut square of the wicket -- one a bit late behind square and the other in-front with same intent that produced same result. There was an on-drive and when the keeper was brought up to the stumps with '7-2' off-side field, he stepped out and hit over extra cover.
Reddy started with a cover drive off Seales and then hit another couple of fours by deliberately opening the bat face, guiding the ball through the slip cordon. After being dropped by Phillip off Warrican's bowling, Reddy thumped the same bowler over long on fence for a six. He repeated the same shot in his next over.
The only possible mode of dismissal for Jaiswal (175) seemed to be a run-out, and that’s exactly how his marathon innings ended following a mix-up with Gill, who sent him back after the batter had crossed more than halfway down for a quick single.
Gill could be held partly responsible as it was Jaiswal’s call after he had pushed the ball slightly to the right of mid-off. Had Gill trusted his partner and continued running, the single looked very much on, with Jaiswal already sprinting towards the danger end.
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Prasidh, Kuldeep limit South Africa to 270 after De Kock's hundred
Visakhapatnam (PTI): India fought back gallantly through Prasidh Krishna and Kuldeep Yadav after Quinton de Kock struck his 23rd hundred, keeping South Africa to a manageable 270 in the third and series-deciding final ODI, here Saturday.
India won the toss after judging the spin of the coin incorrectly 20 times in a row. They had little hesitation in inserting the Proteas into bat, a clear indication of dew factor dominating the thought.
After Arshdeep Singh sent back Ryan Rickelton early, De Kock (106, 89b, 8x4, 6x4) struck his seventh century against India and put on 113 runs off 124 balls with skipper Temba Bavuma (48, 67b) as the visitors moved to a healthy position.
De Kock was severe on Prasidh (4/66), who erred on length continuously in his first spell (2-0-27-0). The left-hander biffed the pacer for 6, 6, 4 in his second over to milk 18 runs.
The 32-year-old quickly pounced on anything that was short, and pacers Prasidh and Harshit offered him plenty of feed on his pet areas.
Bavuma was more sedate, and made runs through those typical dabs and jabs, occasionally unfurling a drive of elan.
De Kock moved to fifty in 42 balls, and never let the tempo down reaching his hundred in 79 balls.
India found temporary relief when Ravindra Jadeja induced a false slash from Bavuma to get caught by Virat Kohli at point.
The tourists got another move on through a 54-run partnership between De Kock and Matthew Breetzkle for the third wicket, and at 168 for two in 28 overs they were in a good position to press on.
But Breetzke's punishment of part-time spinner Tilak Varma forced a rethink in the Indian camp, as skipper KL Rahul brought back Prasidh for a second spell.
What a masterstroke it turned out to be! The Karnataka man broke the back of South Africa’s top and middle order in an exceptional second spell (4-0-11-3).
Breetzke was the first man to go, trapped plumb in front with a straight one and four balls later Aiden Markram uppishly chipped a fuller delivery to Kohli at short covers.
Prasidh soon castled De Kock, whose ugly cross-batted swipe failed to connect a full length delivery from the pacer.
All of a sudden, SA found themselves at a shaky 199 for five, losing three wickets in the space of three overs.
Once Prasidh was done away with the top and middle-order, left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep (4/41) took over and mopped up the tail as SA fell short of even a par total on this track.
