India are on the verge of victory in Nagpur and with it the Test series. The South Africans were dismissed for 79 in the first innings and it was a pretty ordinary show. Yes, the ball was turning, but it wasn't as vicious as you would have thought. There was slow turn and it was the lack of footwork that did them in. When they batted, they batted as if they were playing in South Africa. Nobody was leaning into the drive; nobody was looking to ‘smell’ the ball. If you saw the wicket of van Zyl (caught at short cover) in the second innings, his balance was upright. When you are playing on a turning pitch, you want to get close to the ball, bend down and then drive. Pretty much the same mistakes were made by the Indian batsmen too, but there was some resistance as Cheteshwar Pujara and Shikhar Dhawan played well and those 20s and 30s can make a contribution on this pitch where nothing is coming on to the bat. It’s a question of patience. I don’t think the Indian players had the patience. There is so much limited overs cricket they are playing today that it is difficult for them to show application. Having said that, India have the spinners, but unfortunately South Africa didn’t have the (bowling) attack. It was strange to see Imran Tahir not being brought early on. He picked up five wickets which tells you how important it is for a leg spinner to have the confidence of your captain. If the captain does not have confidence, then he is going to be wasted. Tahir is the main spinner along with Simon Harmer. Really, the two should have been bowling the most, but instead we had a bit of Kagioso Rabada and Morne Morkel, who bowled exceptionally well.

Harmer did not capitalize on the surface like the Indian spinners did and that is the danger for South Africa. Amit Mishra bowls very cleverly whenever he gets an opportunity. He mixes his straight delivery with a flatter trajectory and gets the odd ball to turn.

It has pretty much been India’s day. Now, it is just a matter of when India will finish. Whether they will finish before Lunch (session) or after?