South Africa are teetering at 93 for seven in their second innings after Saturday’s second day’s play, a lead of just 63 runs on a wicket that has been treacherous for batters almost from the first ball of the match.
But only once before had a team chased more than 100 to win at the venue in Kolkata, which was by India against South Africa in 2004 when they reached 120 for two to claim an eight wicket victory.
South African spinner Simon harmer will play a key role in any victory attempt by his side, with bat and ball, after he took 4-30 in India’s first innings.
“I saw the stat today that only one total over 100 has ever been chased in the fourth innings here,” Harmer said at the close of play on Saturday. “So we need to get past 100, 150 would be incredible, but it’s obviously tough at the moment. Temba (Bavuma) showed today with his application and how he paced his innings that there’s a blueprint for us to follow.”
Bavuma is not out on 29 in South Africa’s second innings and will resume on the third morning with Corbin Bosch (1 not out). Harmer and Keshav Maharaj are the only batters to come.
“The pitch is doing enough, it’s just about not getting carried away and putting the ball in the right area over and over again,” Harmer said. “We all know we need to be at our best. But there’s belief in the group that we can pull ourselves back into this game.
“You’ve got to have very clear game plans (with the bat). You need to find ways to score and get bowlers off their lengths. It sounds clichéd, but if you put the bad balls away, it puts pressure back on them.
“The difficulty is that the ball is turning inconsistently, so you need belief and positivity on a surface that doesn’t always allow you to be positive.”
Harmer believes South Africa have the fight in them to makes things difficult for India.
“There’s still a lot of cricket to be played, and I believe we can put our best foot forward. If there’s one thing about this team, it’s that we fight when our backs are against the wall. We’ll try find a way tomorrow.
“We fought back incredibly well to keep India’s(first innings) lead to just 30. Cricket’s a funny game, we could be sitting here tomorrow night with a completely different story. If we get to 150 and bowl India out cheaply, we’ll laugh about today.”