After just one day's of action in the third Test between South Africa and India, the pitch has come in for criticism. Indian batsmen struggled as they were bowled out for 187 yesterday (January 24).
India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bat first on a grassy pitch. He and Pujara scored half centuries but runs were not easy to score. Pujara, who took 54 balls to get off the mark, described the 22-yard surface as "one of the toughest".
Also read: 3rd Test Day 1 report
Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly took to the micro-blogging website Twitter to express his disappointment at the pitch which he termed it as "unfair" for Test cricket.
"..To play test cricket on this surface is unfair ...saw it in NZ in 2003 ...batsman have minimum chance ..icc should look into it," Ganguly wrote last night after the day's play at The Wanderers Stadium.
@vikrantgupta73 @imVkohli @BCCI @ICC ..To play test cricket on this surface is unfair ...saw it in NZ in 2003 ...batsman have minimum chance ..icc should look into it
— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) January 24, 2018
India batsman Pujara said the total of 187 was enough and it was like scoring 300 on a normal pitch. He also added that if someone gets a hundred it would be a "brilliant knock".
"This is one of the toughest pitches I have played on. It was difficult to score runs. It has lot of bounce and seam movement. We had to work hard to score runs. The amount of total (187) we have is as good as scoring 300 on any wicket. If we bowl well we will get them out. It was a good day for us. I am very hopeful that on this wicket we have enough runs," Pujara said.
At stumps, South Africa were 6/1 as Bhuvneshwar Kumar dismissed opener Aiden Markram for two runs. Only three Indian batsmen - Kohli (54), Pujara (50) and Bhuvneshwar (30) managed to get into double figures.
Both teams have gone in with all-seam attack. All five South African bowlers were successful. Kagiso Rabada took 3/39.
