De Villiers hits 85 in 100th Test
AB de Villiers marked his 100th Test with a stroke-filled 85 to
revive struggling South Africa on the opening day of the second Test
against India in Bangalore on Saturday.
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AB de Villiers |
The Proteas, down 1-0 in the four-match series, were reduced to 120-5
after being sent in to bat in overcast conditions at the Chinnaswamy
stadium before going to tea on 177-7.
Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin wreaked havoc with the top order
claiming three of the first five wickets, including two in his first
over when he was brought on to bowl the eighth over. Left-arm spinner
Ravindra Jadeja also picked up three wickets, including the important
one of de Villiers off the last ball before tea, caught by a diving
wicket-keeper Wriddhiman Saha in front of the stumps.
De Villiers hit 11 boundaries and a six, having walked in at 45-3 to
generous applause from some 23,000 fans who regard him as one of their
own due to his stint with the Bangalore team in the Indian Premier
League. De Villiers got off the mark with five runs, courtesy of an
overthrow by Indian captain Virat Kohli that raced to the fence. He
followed that with a sweetly-timed on-drive off fast bowler Varun Aaron
for a boundary and pulled Ashwin to the square-leg fence.
De Villiers, who went to lunch unbeaten on 19, brought up South
Africa's 100 with a superb cover drive off fast bowler Varun Aaron and
reached his half-century with a single off Ashwin.
Ashwin trapped Stiaan van Zyl (10) leg-before with his second
delivery and had Faf du Plessis (0). Aaron claimed the key wicket of
Hashim Amla (7) in the 15th over, uprooting the captain's off-stump as
the Proteas were reduced to 45-3. Opener Dean Elgar, who plodded to 38
by lunch, was dismissed off the second ball after resumption when he
dragged an attempted sweep off Jadeja onto his stumps.
Ashwin had JP Duminy snapped up by Ajinkya Rahane in the slips before
Jadeja grabbed a return catch off Dane Vilas (15) in a double blow that
had the South Africans hopping at 159-6. India made two changes from the
side that won the first Test in Mohali by 108 runs, bringing in premier
fast bowler Ishant Sharma and all-rounder Stuart Binny in place of Umesh
Yadav and Amit Mishra. South Africa replaced the injured pace duo of
Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander with Morne Morkel and Kyle Abbott.The
Proteas also brought in all-rounder Duminy, who missed the first Test
due to injury, in place of off-spinner Simon Harmer.
(AFP) |
