The first Test between India and South Africa witnessed a "bizarre" delay on Day 4 at the SuperSport Park in Centurion after veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin rightly spotted an error with the new ball that was handed to the Indian team ahead of the start of the final innings.
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After India set a target of 305, South African openers Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar made their way to the middle to begin the chase on a promising note. Jasprit Bumrah was handed the new ball, but there was bit of a hold up.
"We didn’t pick the ball," said Ashwin, who apparently is India's new-ball picker, brought it up to the umpires. Indian captain Virat Kohli immediately joined the protest and the on-field umpires called for the box of new balls. The convention is that the fielding team gets the opportunity to pick the new ball at the start of their bowling innings from a dozen presented to them.
Ashwin had a look at all the new Kookaburra reds and picked the perfect one for India. Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj too joined the two. Both Kohli and Ashwin had a look at the seam of the ball, and flipped it up like a seamer does before the run-up. He even handed it over to Siraj before Bumrah was given the new ball for the first over.
{{/usCountry}}Ashwin had a look at all the new Kookaburra reds and picked the perfect one for India. Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj too joined the two. Both Kohli and Ashwin had a look at the seam of the ball, and flipped it up like a seamer does before the run-up. He even handed it over to Siraj before Bumrah was given the new ball for the first over.
{{/usCountry}}Talking about the delay, former Australian cricketer Mike Haysman commented on air saying, “This is bizarre”, before former South African all-rounder Shaun Pollock replied, "This is for deep cricket enthusiasts”. Pollock then explained that logic behind the selection process and then revealed how his former teammate Jacques Kallis used to make a fun of the pace bowlers for it.
“Let me tell you we always picked a good lemon particularly in South Africa,” said Pollock when asked out how many times he failed to pick a good new ball.
Well, India picked two wickets with that new ball. Mohammed Shami struck in the very second over dismissing Markram while Siraj dismissed Keegan Petersen in the 15th over for 17.
South Africa ended Day 4 at 94 for 4, with the hosts 211 runs behind the target while India need six wickets to script history in Centurion.