Former Indian batter and cricket analyst Aakash Chopra heaped praise on Dean Elgar, putting the South African captain alongside Kepler Wessels, Graeme Smith, and Gary Kirsten as one of their gritty left-hand openers following his knock in Johannesburg.
Elgar stood valiantly against the Indian pace attack, comprising of world-class bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammad Shami, despite suffering two blows-one on his helmet grille and the other on his shoulder during his knock of 96* off 188 to take South Africa over the line against India.
He led South Africa to a 7-wicket win over Team India in the second Test in Johannesburg to level the ongoing three-match Test series at 1-1 with the final Test to be held in Cape Town on January 11.
Ahead of the third Test in Cape Town, Chopra lauded Elgar for troubling the Indian bowlers in the second Test and said it is Shami who can get the better of the left-hander with his bowling, given the Proteas skipper’s batting style after the tourists failed to stop him from winning the second Test.
Chopra wrote in his column for ESPNCricinfo: “South Africa tends to produce gritty left-hand openers who are not really pleasing to the eye: Kepler Wessels, Graeme Smith, Gary Kirsten - and you can add Dean Elgar to that list.”
He further highlighted Elgar's dismissal in the first Test in Centurion – an outside edge to Jasprit Bumrah – and how the Indian bowlers were trying to emulate that but didn’t work in Johannesburg.
Chopra added, “One must wonder: how does Elgar play and miss so many balls without edging? Well, the secret to his batting is to bring the bat down in a very straight path. That is, the downswing of the bat is in a straight line. That way his bat is never angular and the hands are trying to cover for the sideways movement away from him in the air and off the surface. This method is called playing inside the line. Elgar is so committed to it that he hardly hits the ball into the covers off the front foot.”
The commentator further suggested that the bowlers should rather change their line only a bit, to the fourth-stump line, and get the ball to move back in to outsmart Elgar.
He added, “That way, the natural variation of the ball holding its line might take the ball closer to the outside edge. Mohammed Shami is best suited to bowling such a line.”
Chopra also feels Elgar can be troubled with bouncers from round the stumps but mentioned that the opener avoids taking on such deliveries. However, he is confident that “a mean bouncer is often capable of preventing a batter from committing to playing the next delivery on the front foot.”
He signed off by saying, “These plans may or may not work in Cape Town but one thing is certain: Elgar will start a new inning as if he hasn't scored a run in the series thus far. Sometimes the best way to wear down such tenacious batters is to meet patience with patience. With Elgar, it's about who blinks first.”
