Fielding in the slips is never easy, with deliveries coming at pace after edging the blades of batters. On occasions, players fielding in the slips get hit on the body while attempting to catch or stop a ball. That is what happened with India star Virat Kohli in the second Test of the series against South Africa in Cape Town. The ball kissed the bat of Proteas batter David Bedingham’s bat before awkwardly falling in front of Kohli. The India star tried to stop the ball but it bounced off his hand and hit him in the face.
Kohli, who has been India’s standout star with the bat in the series so far, was lucky to not get seriously hit in the process. Here’s the video:
— Bangladesh vs Sri Lanka (@Hanji_CricDekho) January 3, 2024
South Africa were shot out for 55 and were struggling at 62 for three in their second innings, still 36 behind after India were bowled out for 153.
The Proteas batting consultant, Ashwell Princ,e gave credit to Indian opening bowlers Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah but said conditions were greatly in favour of the bowlers.
Siraj took a career-best six for 15 in the first innings as South Africa were bowled out before lunch after winning the toss.
“I’ve never seen the pitch that quick on day one,” said Prince, who played 11 of his 66 Test matches, as well as most of his domestic career, at Newlands and is currently coach of Western Province, based at the ground.
“As a batsman you don’t mind pace in the wicket if the bounce is consistent but the bounce was a little bit inconsistent.
“You expect a bit of seam movement on day one but seam movement with inconsistent bounce is a different situation.
“Sometimes it happens that a great bowling line-up bowls out a team cheaply but if both batting line-ups can’t bat there’s something wrong.”
Prince said the conditions had taken South Africa by surprise, prompting them to bat in bright sunshine.
“There was a bit of grass on the pitch but the tendency at Newlands is for it to take spin later on so it made sense to bat. I don’t think anyone could have foreseen how the pitch would play.”
With AFP inputs
Topics mentioned in this article
