India vs South Africa 2nd Test: Aiden Markram turned superman to take an outstanding catch, hurting India more on the third day of the second Test against South Africa at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati on Monday.
His catch removed Nitish Kumar Reddy cheaply in the first innings.
India had a horrible outing in their first innings, losing wickets at regular intervals in the first two sessions of the third day. After allowing the Proteas to post a mammoth total of 489 in the first two days, India were reduced to 122/7 in reply in the second session of the third day. Apart from Yashasvi Jaiswal’s fifty, none of the other batters could make a big impact as the visitors took an upper hand early in the game.
The instance took place in the 42nd over of India’s first innings when Marco Jansen continued his short-ball stuff against the hosts. Unable to get control of the the bouncer from Jansen, Nitish ended up hit in the air towards the slip region. Markram was quick to react as he charged across and releasd a full length dive in the air towards his right side, reaching out with one hand to complete a magnificent catch.
This was India’s sixth wicket as Nitish walked back for 10 runs. The procession, meanwhile, continued as Jadeja was dismissed soon after. He was also dismissed by Jansen as a short ball hit his shoulder, then his bat, before Markram took another catch at the second slip. Notably, India witnessed a horrible batting collapse in the first innings. Jaiswal was the top run-getter for the hosts, having played a promising knock of 58 runs in 97 balls on the back of seven fours and a six before he was dismissed by Simon Harmer.
Talking about Markram, the senior batter is playing the 50th Test match of his impressive career and scored 38 runs in the first innings after the Proteas opted to bat first with an aim to complete a 2-0 whitewash series win. South Africa headed into the match on the back of a historic and memorable 30-run win in the series opener in Kolkata.
Having witnessed a disappointing performances with the bat in the ongoing serie so far, India face a threat of getting follow on in the Guwahati Test. It remains to be seen if the Proteas do enforce a follow-on. If so, it would be extremely disappointing result for the Gautam Gambhir-coached side. It would be the first time in 15 years that India would need to follow on in a home Test. The last time it happened was also against South Africa, at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur.