De Kock shows the fight he and his team needed

Quinton de Kock's batting was not belligerent or brash, he did not play the starring role, he did not even take the game away from the opposition, but he played an innings vital to both South Africa's cause and his own. He showed patience, restraint and resilience, traits that have not often been attached to player of his extravagant style.

"A lot gets said about Quinny, that he is all [only] talent, but today he showed a lot of fight and character, which is good for the rest of the series," Aiden Markram, who shared in a 147-run sixth-wicket stand with de Kock, said.

De Kock saw off 96 dot balls, which amounted to 70% of the 138 deliveries he faced. Of those, 19 came from Nathan Lyon and 21 from Steven Smith at the end of the day when there really was nothing to bat for. Instead of brattishly throw his wicket away, the way de Kock might be expected to do and forgiven for doing, he was steadfast until the end and dragged the Test into a fifth day. He may run out of partners and time to reach a fourth Test hundred but he has done enough to keep Heinrich Klaasen at bay for now.

Klaasen was included in the squad after matchwinning knocks in the pink ODI and second T20 against India, matches he played in because de Kock was injured. But de Kock was also out of form and had not scored a half-century in eight innings against India across all formats and, more relevant for this discussion, in 15 Test innings dating back to July 2017. The problem was that he was never under real pressure for his place until the selectors were forced to look at Klaasen.

In fact, both captain Faf du Plessis and coach Ottis Gibson glossed over de Kock's lean patch and publically stated de Kock was safe. They said they knew de Kock was the kind of player who would just come good; the kind of player who is all talent. They never demanded a fight from him when a fight was what South Africa so needed. De Kock has finally showed that he can provide some, which will be crucial to South Africa's team balance and his own place in future.

The same requirement - to show fight or leave his place in jeopardy - applies to Theunis de Bruyn, albeit to a lesser extent. In his four Tests so far, de Bruyn has not showed the quality of a player who dominates at first-class level - he scored 190 for the Knights early last month to ensure he was not left out of this Test squad - but he also has not had the opportunity to. Temba Bavuma is ahead of him in the reserve-batsman queue, but could not play this match because he had not completely recovered from a broken finger.

After the first innings, calls for Bavuma - who has batted through some of the trickiest periods in the last 15 months for South Africa - to return were loud, but now de Bruyn has provided a glimpse of what he can do too. In an entertaining 35th over, de Bruyn edged Mitchell Starc through the gap between the wicketkeeper and slip and then drove him for four twice in the over before Starc finished the over with a no-ball and a verbal barrage. "Theunis took it to a guy like Mitchell Starc, which was probably unexpected for most out there. It showed the character in the side," Markram said.

Bavuma may be back and having him, de Bruyn, de Kock and Markram all eager to prove their worth could be the best thing for South Africa's line-up as the series unfolds. In particular, it will please the seniors, because they own failings have only made South Africa's job harder; now can see there are others who can bear the load. "It [this innings] does give us confidence," Markram said. "Obviously it's a long series and every innings is vitally important. We would have liked to have done it better in the first innings. But what's done is done and we had to fight our way back in the second innings and I thought the guys showed a lot of fight."