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It was a day of total surprises on the first day of the first test in Mohali, as 12 wickets tumbled on a surprisingly turning pitch after Indian skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bat first. An unlikely hero of the day turned out to be South African part-time spinner Dean Elgar, who produced his career best figures picking up 4 wickets.
Apart from Murali Vijay, none of the Indian batsmen offered any sort of resistance. Ravindra Jadeja showed glimpses of his domestic form, pitching in with a useful 38 runs and also picking up the crucial wicket of Faf du Plessis early on in the Proteas innings.
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The nature of the pitch especially surprised the Indian skipper Kohli, who expected a good batting wicket. However, the positive thing for India will be the fact that they have three spinners among their ranks, who can quickly reverse the deficit.
The visitors have already lost 2 wickets, both falling to spinners and the hosts will be looking to pick up more wickets on the second day and gain the upper hand.
Reactions from the cricketing circle about first day’s play:
Dean Elgar:
"I'm a little bit surprised with the outcome. Taking four wickets obviously and batting decently. I've always had the ability to bowl. I'm not only a batter. But yeah it was nice to contribute and it's a wicket that is assisting the spinners a little bit and it was nice to obviously bowl India out with the other four bowlers and put them on the backfoot.”
"It wasn't easy. We sort of expected it to play like that, but we didn't expect it to crumble as what it has already. It was hard graft. It was right up there with the hardest ever Test cricket I've had. It was hard work and we can see that the Indians are used to putting the opposition under pressure when their tails are up. Let's hope that it can backfire and turn out to be a great victory for you.”
"I don't think it's a very good cricket wicket. It is my personal opinion. It is a result wicket which is expected when you come here. But kudos to India, they are obviously going to prepare wickets like these against us, I'm sure.”
Sanjay Manjrekar:
Aakash Chopra:
Sanjay Bangar: (via DNA)
"I think runs can be made on this wicket as Vijay showed. When Pujara and Vijay were batting, or even Ajinkya (Rahane) and Vijay, it looked quite easy. A batsman's patience will be tested to the core, and even the bowlers will have to work hard on this wicket. It is slightly slow after pitching. It doesn't come on to the bat. It is going to be a test of the patience both for batsmen and the bowlers."
“Competitive cricket is where a batsman and a bowler have equal opportunities. I think bowlers have to got a chance. Bowlers do have an upper hand on this track, and batsmen have to cope with that. When an Indian team goes overseas, you cannot say that the extent of seam movement, or the extent of movement in the air, there should be a fixed criteria. Okay if it swings this much or if it seams this much then only they are the ideal conditions.”
Pat Symcox:
Mike Haysman:
Other Reactions:
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