India 139-6 at tea in South Africa Test

If he does go on to complete his fifth Test century, it will be his first on home soil.

There is a reason behind this aberration.

Not even the fact that none of his players had been included in the ICC’s test team of the year could ruffle Amla’s mood. He is the only Indian to have scored triple hundreds.

Kohli left his temper tantrum of a news conference having been beaten in another competitive inquisition with reporters about the overt help his spinners were afforded by the pitches in Mohali and Nagpur. “What has been happening for the past two Test matches is he was slightly hurrying through his shots early on in his innings”. Score 63/2 (Kohli 1*, Pujara 14*) Dhawan out! Among the Test ground with more than 10 Tests, Ferozshah Kotla is the only ground to enjoy such a record. It proved to be the best strip of the series, relatively speaking.

Rahane then took the onus upon him.

South Africa captain Hashim Amla hopes to end the series on a high.

The Castle Lager Proteas recalled Kyle Abbott and Dane Piedt to the starting line-up in place of Kagiso Rabada and Simon Harmer respectively in what turned out to be inspirational moves when the final Freedom Series Test got underway at Delhi on Thursday. Kohli looked at ease against and was gaining in confidence when he got out in the 47th over.

South Africa bowlers carried on in the same vein removing Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara in back-to-back overs post lunch. It was really good to play against India, KK Nair was playing and he is one of those very good players of spin. Later, when he grew comfortable, he sent those balls to the boundary.

Morné Morkel (0/40 in 17 overs) bowled with great pace and control without reward, but Amla will be concerned about Tahir’s performance as the leg-spinner conceded 36 runs in seven overs.

But when on 33, the opener was trapped leg-before by Piedt. Wicket-keeper Dane Vilas pounced on it and took a diving catch.

Of them, Ravichandran Ashwin emerged as the leader of the pack with 24 victims to his credit, while Ravindra Jadeja has made an impressive comeback with 16 scalps. But he re-worked his strategy a bit where he is willing to spend a lot of time in the middle in the initial stages and waited for the loose ball. “That is the key to batting in the longer format”, Bangar told reporters after the end of the day’s play. Earlier, Rahane and Kohli added 70 for the fourth wicket. But that sort of thing is unlikely to happen at the Kotla, where the spinners will need more patience as the turn will be slower. “It speaks a lot about his character”.

He found an able ally in Rahane, who also found some form going his way, as the duo added 50 runs for the fourth wicket in only 48 minutes facing 67 balls.

The rain-hit second Test in Bangalore was drawn after the first day’s play.