“Reactions like that show frustration. Sometimes teams capitalise on that. You never want to show too much emotion, but we could see clearly that emotions were high.” – Lungi Ngidi on the Indians’ reaction to Dean Elgar’s DRS decision.
Telford Vice | Newlands
HOW to write about Rishabh Pant without writing about Rishabh Pant? The modern method of analysing a match for publication, especially online, is for one reporter to consider matters from a single team’s perspective while another looks at things conversely. Usually, that works just fine and readers are presented with a choice of angles, thoughts and theories. But what happens when events are dominated by a single player?
Welcome to the third day of the Newlands Test on Thursday, when Pant wore the pants, scared the pants off South Africa’s supporters and seemed to channel his inner Navjot Singh Sidhu, who said: “You’ve got to choose between tightening your belt or losing your pants.”
Pant chose the latter, in the most respectable way, and belted South Africa’s bowlers to all parts to score a breathtaking 100 not out that had everything to do with India taking their lead to 211. He batted through six partnerships after arriving at 58/4, and 48 of his runs boomed in boundaries. India made almost three-quarters of their total with him at the crease, and he would surely have scored more runs had he not refused ones and twos when batting with Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah, the Nos. 10 and 11. Or he might have made fewer: he was dropped three times.
A scene in the eighth over after lunch captured the mood. Pant launched Keshav Maharaj for consecutive sixes, sending Kagiso Rabada and Duanne Olivier beyond the long-off boundary to find the ball after the second blow had sailed out of the ground. They looked like schoolboys searching the bushes after a big hit at some nondescript ground on a random weekday afternoon.
But some of us are not supposed to be writing about Pant and his storied innings, remember. What else was there? Before the 21st over of South Africa’s bid for a target of 212, that question had no viable answer.
By then, Aiden Markram had become the first wicket to fall for the sixth time in his last eight innings, and all six times inside 10 overs. So far, so expected. Then, with Dean Elgar and Keegan Petersen having taken the score to 60, R Ashwin had Elgar plumb in front with a delivery that pitched on off and did not turn. It was bound for the top third of the stumps before it smacked the pads. Marais Erasmus agreed, and raised his finger.
Umpires of Erasmus’ calibre don’t get too many decisions wrong, and certainly not those as straightforward as this. Elgar reviewed, no doubt more in hope and the knowledge that he is South Africa’s batting fulcrum than serious belief he would be reprieved. He had started the sad walk back to the dressing room before the decision had been handed down. He knew he was out.
And then, shockingly, he wasn’t: Hawk-Eye alleged the ball would pass over leg stump. The most telling reaction, relayed via the stump microphone, came from Erasmus: “That is impossible.” He wasn’t alone in that opinion. Ashwin loomed over the stump mic, and said: “You should find better ways to win, SuperSport.” Virat Kohli had another go at the broadcasters: “Focus on your team as well and not just the opposition; trying to catch people all the time.” Then it was KL Rahul’s turn: “The whole country playing against 11 guys.”
Maybe Rahul hasn’t noticed the empty stands all around, as demanded by the BCCI. So he might be surprised to learn that South Africans are turning away from cricket in significant numbers because of catastrophes off the field and problems on it. A won series would lure some of them back to the game, but it was folly to think the “whole country” was watching or even interested in what was going on at Newlands, much less “playing against” India’s team. Certainly in South Africa, cricket doesn’t work like that.
But cricket shouldn’t depend on broadcasters to do its electronic umpiring. That the ICC hands the integrity of an increasingly important element of their match officials’ duties to outside parties is a damaging anomaly in the modern game. Would Ashwin, Kohli and Rahul have said what they said if they were talking about ICC-appointed umpires or referees, knowing what would they have been in for in terms of the code of conduct? Consequently the broadcasters were sitting ducks for the Indians’ anger. To take action against them now would add injury to the original insult. And if the players are to be punished, what of Erasmus?
A SuperSport spokesperson told Cricbuzz that the broadcaster had noted “comments made by certain members of the Indian cricket team”. And that, “Hawk-Eye is an independent service provider, approved by the ICC, and their technology has been accepted for many years as an integral part of DRS. SuperSport does not have any control over the Hawk-Eye technology.”
Lungi Ngidi had something like empathy for the Indians, telling an online press conference “Reactions like that show frustration. Sometimes teams capitalise on that. You never want to show too much emotion, but we could see clearly that emotions were high. That tells us maybe they were feeling a little bit of pressure. That was a good partnership, and they really wanted to break it. I think those feelings ended up showing. Everyone reacts differently to different situations, and what we saw there is probably how those guys were feeling at the time.”
Did he trust the DRS system to do its job properly? “Yes. We’ve seen it on numerous occasions being used all around the world. It’s the system in place, and that’s what we use as cricketers.”
Nine overs after all that, with what became the day’s last delivery, the Indians thought Bumrah had had Elgar caught behind down leg. Adrian Holdstock said they hadn’t. Kohli reviewed, and this time DRS landed on his side of the argument.
Elgar and Petersen shared 41 runs between the two DRS decisions. That’s worth twice as much in a match featuring two fractious batting line-ups. A stand that might have been snuffed out at 35 grew to 78, and took South Africa to within 111 runs of victory at a ground that has seen only two successful chases of more than 200.
That it is Elgar who was, belatedly, dismissed was some kind of justice for India. Petersen has proved himself a tough nut to crack, and will doubtless do so again when he resumes on 48. But South Africa’s opponents would far rather see the back of the talismanic captain than anyone else in the side. He wears the pants in that dressing room.
First published by Cricbuzz.
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