Nought from AB’s ton?

 

While much of Sunday was spent waiting for the rain to subside in vain, on Monday the players didn’t even have to make the effort to get to the venue with steady rain all through the previous night and into the morning ruling out all hopes. 

 

Prior to the game, there was the general belief that the de Villiers’ landmark game, given its significance, could affect the visiting team’s preparations but as it transpired, the loss of two days, may in fact, help them in going to Nagpur with just a 1-0 deficit.

 

The last time around this venue was gung-ho over a significant individual was during the 2004-2005 season when Inzamam-ul-Haq stepped out for his 100th game in the three-match series. On that occasion, the burly Inzy led from the front with a buccaneering 184.

 

More than a decade later, with so much fanfare attached to de Villiers’ achievement, it was but a given that fans would throng the venue, especially over the weekend. Of late, the biggest threat facing Test cricket has been the lack of attention from the fans and Mohali, where the first Test was completed inside three days was a poor advertisement for the five-day game with extremely poor turnout.

 

Going into the game, there was a huge clamour over India’s ploy of going in with spin-friendly wickets to shackle the Proteas but as captain Virat Kohli put it, home advantage can only do so much, it’s up to the players to execute their roles.

 

“Home advantage is obvious but being familiar with the conditions, a couple of their players are familiar with playing in this ground. We have to execute the skills better than the opposition to win a game of cricket ,” said Kohli. 

 

The Indian skipper then went on to point out how sporting wickets ought to be the way forward to get the fans back into the game. “We should be delighted that we are getting result-oriented wickets because then you will have more people coming in to watch Test matches,” he said.