Reason to smile: Sneh had the South African batters dance to her tune.
| Photo Credit: JOTHI RAMALINGAM B
India’s Sneh Rana and South Africa’s Sune Luus produced brilliant performances with ball and bat, respectively, as the two sides shared the honours on an engrossing third day of the one-off Test at the MAC Stadium here on Sunday.
Sneh ran through the South African batting line-up, picking up eight wickets (eight for 77) in the first innings to help India take a 337-run lead. Later, Luus (109, 203b, 18×4) led South Africa’s recovery with a gritty hundred in the second innings after being asked to follow-on.
The Proteas went to stumps on 232 for two, still needing another 105 runs to make India bat again on the last day.
Off-spinner Sneh bowled a dream spell in the morning (5.3-2-16-5) as she troubled the South African batters. Resuming at 236 for four, the visitors lost their last six wickets for 17 runs.
Superb delivery
South Africa’s hopes of avoiding the follow-on rested on Marizane Kapp (74), but Sneh castled the former with a superb delivery that bounced off a length to beat the outside edge and hit the top of the off-stump.
Three balls later, Sneh had Sinalo Jafta caught at short-leg to complete her fifer.
From there on, the hosts ran through the lower-order and had no hesitation in asking the visitors to bat again.
And when Deepti Sharma trapped opener Anneke Bosch in front in the eighth over of the second innings, South Africa was in deep trouble.
However, Luus and skipper Laura Wolvaardt, who remained unbeaten on 93 (252b, 12×4), showed great determination and technique to frustrate the Indian bowlers in the last two sessions and added 190 runs for the second wicket.
Luus continued from where she left off in the first innings and looked untroubled on challenging conditions where the spinners found turn and uneven bounce.
She was decisive in her footwork, playing confidently off the back-foot to cut and pull effectively.
When the bowlers over-pitched, Luus essayed some crisp drives and lofted shots down the ground to reach her maiden Test hundred. The Indian spinners were inconsistent, missing their lengths and were let down by some poor catching as well.
Deepti dropped Kapp twice in successive overs — once at slip off Sneh and then off her own bowling.
Having lost the ODI series 3-0, the visitors will look to salvage a draw on the final day and gain some much-needed confidence ahead of the T20Is.