The pitch at the Wanderers Stadium for the third and final Test at Johannesburg was prepared to make life difficult for the Indian team even after South Africa had clinched the series by winning the first two Tests in conditions which the touring side was not comfortable with, especially while batting last at Cape Town and Centurion.

Before the last Test at Johannesburg, media reports indicated that the South African team management wanted a fast and bouncy pitch to prevent Kohli from scoring a big century like he did in the second match at Centurion. The South African team wanted a clean sweep pf the series by winning all three Tests. And the home team skipper Faf du Plessis was quoted as saying just one day before the last Test that he was fully satisfied with the pitch prepared at the Wanderers Stadium by the curator.

With Kohli winning the toss and electing to bat, it is now South Africa’s turn to play the last innings. The Indian batting showed plenty of guts on a very difficult pitch to score 187 in the first innings, thanks to resolute half-centuries by Kohli and Pujara and some stout rear-guard action by the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The Indian bowling, spearheaded by Bumrah and Bhuvi, restricted the South African batting to 194, a lead of just seven runs. In India’s second innings, even though the ball sometimes bounced unpredictably from a good-length spot and hit the batsmen on their fingers, the likes of Kohli, Rahane, Murli Vijay, Bhuvi and even Shami hung around and took the second innings score to 247, giving India a commanding lead of 240. The touring team achieved this score despite the five South African fast bowlers attacking even the tailenders with a barrage of short-pitched balls and bumpers.

However, when the South Africans started the final innings, the host team did not show the same determination the Indians showed. After the opener Markham was dismissed, his partner Elgar looked distinctly uncomfortable. In Bumrah’s very first over when a short-pitched ball hit Elgar on the helmet, the neutral umpires (Aleem Dar and Ian Gould) called the match-referee and play was suspended at a crucial moment when India was right on top, with more than ten overs to be bowled.

Elgar was hit on the helmet not because of the condition of the pitch but due to his own faulty technique, as the expert commentator Sunil Gavaskar pointed out. Gavaskar even wondered why the umpires had to ask the match-referee to intervene when the replays clearly showed the ball landing on a short-pitch spot and bouncing as expected..

In the 1970s and 1980s, while opening the batting for India, Gavaskar faced a barrage of short-pitched bouncers from faster and more formidable bowlers like Holding, Roberts, Marshall, Garner, Lillee and Thomson on wickets full of pace and bounce. Granted the pitch for the ongoing Wanderers Test at Johannesburg was developing cracks on the third day because of the dry weather conditions South Africa is currently facing this summer. However, the conditions were the same for both teams.

Again, as Gavaskar and the other expert commentator Murali Karthik pointed out, the Wanderers Stadium pitch was a very difficult one to bat on but not dangerous at this point of time. If Elgar was hit on the head by Bumrah’s short-pitched bouncer, it was because of faulty technique Even the legendary South African fast bowler Shaun Pollock pointed out that the ball which hit Elgar was a short-pitched one and not something which unexpectedly reared up from a good-length spot due to a defect in the pitch. Former South Africa international batsman Darryl Cullinan stated that it was the worst pitch he had seen at the Wanderers but that he did not think it was worth abandoning the match for.

Granted, the umpires did intervene when the Indian batsmen were being hit on the hand when the ball reared up from a good-length spot on a few occasions. However, the conditions were the same for both teams and the Indian skipper Virat Kohli showed plenty of guts while batting on and inspiring his colleagues to face the five South African fast bowlers on a difficult pitch.

Gavaskar was very clear that the umpires had no business to ask the Zimbabwean match-referee Pycroft to intervene. It is abundantly clear that the pitch was prepared to suit the home team which wanted to win the series three-nil. However, thanks to the resolute batting of Team India, the conditions have now boomeranged on South Africa which lacks the determination to battle on.

If the third Test is now abandoned, then the BCCI should intervene. It looks as if South Africa is using the services of a so-called neutral referee from its neighbouring country to get out of a tight spot and save the Test.

In which case, there is not much point in going ahead with the rest of the tour which involves playing ODIs and T20 games. However, if the South African cricket board now claims that the decision to abandon the last Test was taken by the neutral umpires and the neutral match-referee and that the touring squad is committed to playing the ODIs and T20 matches, there is nothing to prevent Team India from replacing its best batsmen and bowlers with a second string. Team India can always claim that its senior players are exhausted or injured and need to be replaced.

Hopefully, the BCCI or whoever is running it (including the Committee of Administrators comprising Vinod Rai and Diana Edulji) will show as much guts in standing up to the South African cricket board as the Indian team did while playing Morkel, Rabada, Nigidi and Philander on a very difficult Wanderers pitch at Johannesburg.