De Villiers’ rain-ruined 100th test ends in draw

BENGALURU (Reuters) – AB de Villiers’ 100th test fizzled out into a tame draw on Wednesday with cyclonic rains and a wet outfield wiping out a fourth successive day in the second test between India and South Africa at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium.

The match had already seen three rained-out days on the trot and the morning drizzle prompted the match officials to call off play around lunch time, with only 81 overs of the test bowled.

India dominated what little play was possible on day one, bowling out South Africa for 214 before openers Shikhar Dhawan (45) and Murali Vijay (28) raised 80 runs without being separated.

“It’s a pity that we lost four days of the test match after being in such a strong position,” rued home captain Virat Kohli whose team will go into the third test at Nagpur from Nov. 25 with a 1-0 lead in the four-match series.

“Other than that, we have a lot of positives that we can take from day one, the biggest being Shikhar’s knock of 45-odd, him getting back into the flow and among the runs.

“He is an impact player, he has done the job for us in the past and he is a very dangerous player. To have him back in confidence is always a boost for the team,” said Kohli who is leading India in his first home series.

Counterpart Hashim Amla was happy for De Villiers whose fluent 85 was the lone bright spot in the visitors’ poor batting display even though the Proteas skipper felt the match could have gone either way.

“We did not do that very well but I think the game was poised. You just never know on day two or three how the game would have panned out,” Amla said.

Beaten inside three days on a turning track in the series opener in Mohali, South Africa betrayed spin vulnerability in Bangalore as well with eight of them succumbing to the Indian spinners in their first innings.

Amla said the team would strive to play better cricket in Nagpur.

“We got a long layoff for these rained-out days, everybody’s very keen to get back on the park. We are looking forward to Nagpur and hopefully play some better cricket.”

(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by John O’Brien/Patrick Johnston)