The second test match between India and South Africa being played at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru is heading for a tame draw as play was abandoned without a ball being bowled for the third successive day on Tuesday. Incessant rains, which had washed out play on the second and third days, relented to allow the ground staff at the stadium to work on the drenched outfield despite overcast skies.
The umpires decided to resume the match at 2 pm, but another sharp shower brought the covers back on the pitch and led to another wasted day for the players and fans. With just the final day's play remaining - weather permitting - the Test is headed for a tame draw. Play took place only on the first day on Saturday when South Africa were shot out for 214 after being sent in to bat, and India replied with 80 for no loss by stumps. India lead the four-match series after securing a 108-run win in the first Test in Mohali earlier this month. The third Test is to be played in Nagpur from November 25.
India win first test
Three days is all it took for India to ensure that South Africa's morale would crumble like the pitch on offer at Mohali in the first Test. Though the Indian captain and his leading players spent all three days of the game lamenting the media spotlight on the playing surface, there is no doubt the snare was set with intense deliberation and was intended to attract enough attention to play on the minds of the visitors - this is, after all, the fourth straight three-day finish in a Test on Indian soil.
South Africa knew they would be caught like rats in a trap and kept themselves in the game right till the start of their second innings on Saturday, but the inexperience of a majority of their batsmen in these conditions meant they were incapable of engineering an escape. Add to that the doubtful play of some of their more experienced campaigners and India can congratulate themselves on a well-executed win.
The 108-run victory, when it did come with Ravindra Jadeja dismissing Imran Tahir to complete a five-wicket haul and a dream comeback, would have come as a huge relief for an Indian team management desperate to knock the sails out of a South Africa team buoyant after wins in the ODI and T20 series.
The surface, though not a rank turner, was dry, loose and pliant enough for the spinners on both sides to keep the traditional ebb and flow of Test cricket safely at bay: in keeping with the trend, a total of 18 wickets fell on the third day and both sides suffered disconcerting batting collapses involving their primary batsmen.
