Revamped SA attack holds own on Nagpur turner

South Africa went into the Nagpur Test with half a dozen bowling options, but it turned out they needed only three. Morne Morkel, Kagiso Rabada, and Simon Harmer did the job with spells of reverse-swing, accuracy, and endurance.

Despite the absence of the injured Dale Steyn and the shift to an entirely different bowling combination - two pacers and two frontline spinners - South Africa held their own in unfamiliar conditions. That India were tied down and taken out was not entirely surprising. On a surface as cracked as a piece of damaged ceramic, the ball began gripping and turning as early as the ninth over. Batting was always going to be difficult but the way South Africa pegged India back and plucked them out was largely unexpected.

Morkel, the supposedly one-dimensional gentle giant who hits the deck hard and aims for the head, bowled a spell of reverse-swing reminiscent of Steyn. Harmer, the offspinner tasked with holding an end, bagged the biggest haul of the day by bowling quicker and getting some bite. Rabada did not have the same success as his seniors but contributed well enough to squeeze the hosts and reaffirmed South Africa's belief in their strength - the seamers.

Their early work, however, showed little of what was to follow. The quicks' opening spells were probing but lacked real poison. Morkel, in particular, stuck to a shorter length and the batsmen were happy to ignore anything they could. It was the not-so-innocuous Dean Elgar who looked the most threatening when he found turn.

Once again, Elgar, who remains a part-time bowler despite his golden arm, was used before Imran Tahir, a move that revealed a worrying truth about South Africa's premier wicket-taker: they do not trust him to pick up early wickets. Ordinarily, that would not be much of a concern at home, but in India, it asks questions about whether South Africa used him properly.

As India have shown, the visitors could probably open the bowling with a spinner and Tahir could have adjusted to the demand with practicing with the new ball. But South Africa did not give themselves that option and with Tahir lacking penetration, the onus was on the rest to compensate.

Harmer, who finished with four wickets, was able to do that though India attacked him early on when he experimented with his pace. As M Vijay and Chesteshwar Pujara used their feet and wrists, Harmer realised that giving more time to the batsmen would work against him. He soon pushed it quicker. "I felt that with the pace there was a bit more bite off the wicket and you saw a few balls spit. As a spinner I think that's what you are looking for," Harmer said. "When you bowl too slowly, a batsman can adjust and go back easily. Ideally you want the batsmen to commit to a shot and I felt the best way to do that was to bowl a quicker pace."

Harmer had to wait until after lunch for his first wicket. By then Morkel had adjusted his default setting and went full. He was rewarded when he trapped Vijay in front with a pitched-up delivery that struck the opener low on the front pad. Sticking to a fuller length seems to be a difficult thing for Morkel when his every instinct tells him to hold it back.

The message to defy that instinct may have been sent across after the chat between Shaun Pollock and JP Duminy on the side of the field during the drinks break. Perhaps, a plan had been set up, as evident from the outfits of some of the South Africa players. The pants of AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessus looked like remains of a McDonald's meal streaked with ketchup. The pair spent time between deliveries smearing their whites red, looking after the ball. They were gearing up for a Steyn special but without the main ingredient.

Morkel, though, took up the lead role and may have even surprised himself with how close a replica he was. He got the ball to move both ways and the more he pitched it up, the more it swung. The sight of Ajinkya Rahana's off stump cartwheeling would have made Morkel wonder why his name did not start with W.

In his second post-lunch spell, Morkel produced one of the finest displays of his career, not only because it came completely independent of another seamer but also because it defied everything about him as a bowler, from physique to mental framework. More tellingly, it made Morkel a leader, probably for the first time.

Rabada, who got some movement of his own, also bowled admirably, and toiled in difficult conditions. He was particularly impressive against Wriddhiman Saha, who was beaten regularly in the channel outside off. Rabada would then find the edge but not the wicket.

Harmer eventually accounted for Saha, thanks to an athletic effort from JP Duminy at midwicket, to take reward for holding one end. He was used for the entire second session, apart one over from Duminy. Tahir was not needed at all - another sign of South Africa's reluctance to use him for the purpose they have picked him - but he was given a shot at redemption after tea against lower order. He almost messed it up with a range of low full tosses but got it together enough to bowl R Ashwin with a googly.

The legspinner may do well to heed Harmer's words. "The biggest thing is not trying too hard," Harmer said. "There were stages today when I did and that's where I started to leak runs. It's just about finding a rhythm, a line and length that works and a pace, and then keeping the batsmen thinking the whole time with field placings, with your speed and that kind of thing."

Even as Harmer and Morkel both found that, the situation was all too familiar for South Africa by stumps. The bowlers had done their job but the batsmen had already begun to undo it.