Despite Ngidi and Rabada show, SA pace lacking the old venom

It took the home side all of 84 minutes on the third morning of the opening Test to run through India's batting, bowling them out for 327 in their first innings. India's lost seven wickets for 55 runs, having resumed on their robust first day score of 272/3.

Such a passage of bowling usually pegs a visiting team back severely, particularly when the tormentors are the opposing quicks who are operating in seaming conditions. One must also consider that India began the series with the disadvantage of not having played a tour game. 

There was a sense of déjà vu. South Africa's most productive bowler was Lungi Ngidi with his six-wicket haul. The tall fast bowler was a debutant when India played at Centurion on their 2018 tour and tormented their batters. Ngidi would know all about bowling at SuperSport Park, where pacers have picked 154 wickets to the spinners' haul of 16 before this game. So far, pacers have taken all 21 wickets. 

His partner-in-arms was Kagiso Rabada, leader of South Africa's bowling attack, with 216 Test wickets until India's first innings, and one who strikes every 40 balls. For that hour-and-a-half on Tuesday morning, the bowling duo ran riot. Bruised egos that batting collapses leave behind did not show up prominently on the Indians as KL Rahul had led India to a solid total on Sunday.

The typical excuses for non-performance of sub-continental teams do not come from this Indian side. So rich was the Indian seam attack's response that South Africa's hour-plus bowling mayhem was quickly forgotten.

That is partly because the current Indian team believes it has a bowling attack that can befriend any foreign condition better than the home side. Also, because Ngidi and Rabada had to shoulder long spells without much back-up. The two quicks bowled almost half the first innings overs—50 of the total 105.3 overs—and shared nine of the wickets. But they were leading a bowling attack that otherwise carried no real venom. 

Wiaan Mulder's medium-pace never troubled India's batters. Debutant left-arm paceman Marco Jansen seemed to require some time before he could could get a sense of belonging in the big league. Keshav Maharaj bowling left-arm spin was always going to play a supporting role in the first innings. The X factor Anrich Nortje would have provided with his express pace—he is nursing an injury—was sorely missed. The in-form fast bowler Duanne Olivier, back in the mix, was reportedly not match-fit.

It had made matters tougher for Ngidi and Rabada on Day 1 because their bowling muscles hadn't warmed to up to Test cricket, having done little long-format bowling of late. South Africa's last Test was in the West Indies in June. When they did wake up to the opportunity on Tuesday morning on a freshened-up pitch, the sun drying up the surface to quicken it, they disrupted India's plans.

One delivery that had occasionally surprised an otherwise supremely assured KL Rahul was the short ball. Rabada exploited that by having him caught down the leg side with a rising ball. Once he was dismissed, the floodgates opened. Ngidi found his rhythm, getting the ball to consistently rear off the surface. It didn't help that most Indian batters, from Ajinkya Rahane, Ravichandran Ashwin to Rishabh Pant fell after failing to pick the right length.

Ngidi and Rabada had identical returns of six and three wickets respectively in an innings, against India at Centurion in 2018. It had helped South Africa to seal the series. Then they also had the ever-reliable Morne Morkel and the wily swing exponent Vernon Philander. This time, they were outshone by an Indian pace battery with such depth and class that they could do it without Jasprit Bumrah's services for much of the day. South Africa will hope Olivier at least ready to go in the next Test. By then they could be a Test down.