Wanderers pitch ‘challenging’ not dangerous, says Rahane

TIL Desk Sports/ Insisting that Indian players have played on worse tracks back home, vice captain Ajinkya Rahane termed the Wanderers’ pitch as ‘challenging’ and not dangerous. Rahane said match should continue on Day 4 on Saturday and cited South Africa’s tactics to justify resumption.

The Mumbai batsman played a vital innings of 48 off 68 balls on a difficult wicket as India finished on 247 in their second innings, setting a 241-run target for South Africa to win the third and final Test in Johannesburg. Play was halted in the last 15 minutes because Dean Elgar got hit twice in one over from Jasprit Bumrah.

“The wicket was definitely challenging, but if you see our openers batted so well. The wicket was similar for both teams. Murali Vijay got 25 runs, and he faced 130-140 balls. It was completely the same for everyone. Our approach was that we want to play and win this Test match,” Rahane said. The Indian vice captain said no one stopped South Africa bowlers from bowling bouncers to their tailenders in similar conditions.