Indian batsman Shikar Dhawan signs autographs for fans after the second Test against South Africa ended in a dreary draw in Bengaluru as play was washed out for a fourth consecutive day at The M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. (AFP)

AFP/Bengaluru


Indian captain Virat Kohli was left frustrated yesterday after the rain-ravaged second Test against South Africa robbed his team of a possible series win.  The match ended in a dreary draw in Bengaluru as play was washed out for a fourth consecutive day after the hosts had gained the upper hand on the opening day.
The umpires called off the final day’s play at 11:30am due to a wet outfield at the Chinnaswamy stadium after incessant rains over the past week.
There was action only on the first day on Saturday when South Africa were shot out for 214 after being sent in to bat and India replied with 80 for no loss.  
“It’s a pity we lost four days when we were in such a strong position,” Kohli said at the brief presentation ceremony. “The bowlers did a commendable job by bowling South Africa out in less than three sessions which is something very rare. A lot of people were surprised when we decided to field first. All credit to the bowlers. Bangalore is known for its runs but our bowlers showed a lot of character.”
Kohli hoped his team, which won the first Test in Mohali by 108 runs to gain the lead in the four-match series, will take the momentum into the third Test which starts in Nagpur on November 25. “Nothing has changed in the series,” the Indian captain said. “We took the confidence from Mohali to Bangalore and we had a good day’s play.
“The team is in great mood and hopefully we won’t have any more interruptions and the players can execute their skills in Nagpur.”
Kohli felt India could have put South Africa under pressure even if rain had relented just enough to allow two more days of play. “If we had proper two days of play even from fourth day to the end of the fifth day, we were still looking at it as a positive where we can bat for a full day and try to get as many runs as possible and then put pressure on the opposition. I am not saying that we would have certainly bowled them out, but you can actually put them under pressure even if we had two more days of play. That’s how well we played on day one and that gave us the liberty to think of something like that on the fourth and fifth day.”
At stumps on day one, Shikhar Dhawan was batting on 45. Dhawan had failed twice in Mohali, and was coming off middling form in the ODI series that preceded the Tests, but Kohli didn’t feel he was coming out of a lean patch. Keeping the formats separate, he harked back to the hundreds Dhawan had made in his last two Tests before this series, in Fatullah and Galle.
“If you call scoring two hundreds in three Test matches struggling then I don’t know what ‘in form’ is,” Kohli said. “[Dhawan’s] last three matches, he has got a hundred in Galle, he has got a hundred in Bangladesh, unfortunately he got injured after and he played first Test match after that in Mohali.
“So let’s not be too hard on someone because of two innings or three innings. This is international cricket, you are going to play numerous innings and we have to be patient with players like Shikhar because he is an impact player and we need to give him as much confidence as we possibly can. When he gets going he wins you the game, that is a surety.

India retain same squad for final two Tests


India, meanwhile, named an unchanged squad for the remaining two Tests against South Africa. Pace duo Umesh Yadav and Bhuvneshwar Kumar and all rounder Gurkeerat Singh, who did not feature in the playing XI and were released to play Ranji Trophy matches, have returned to the fold. Nagpur hosts the third Test from Nov. 25, while Delhi is scheduled to stage the final Test from Dec. 3.
India squad: Virat Kohli (captain), Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha (wicketkeeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Varun Aaron, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Lokesh Rahul, Stuart Binny, Gurkeerat Singh Mann.