Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra believes South Africa will secure a first-innings lead before the visitors come out to bat again in the 2nd Test at the Wanderers. Currently, the hosts are at 35/1 in reply to India’s 202, thus trailing by 167 runs.
Opting to bat first, the visiting side was bundled out for 202 despite a gritty half-century by stand-in captain KL Rahul. The middle-order consisting of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara failed to contribute yet again before Ravichandran Ashwin made a telling contribution to take the score over 200.
In reply, South Africa have looked good so far despite a couple of missed chances. In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Aakash Chopra predicted that South Africa will take a slender first-innings lead. He said:
“I feel India will concede the lead. Runs are still left, you have scored 202, the opposing team have also lost one wicket for 35 runs. But I feel South Africa will take a slim lead, it could be 15-25 runs.”
Going further, the cricketer-turned-commentator expects Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah to scalp the majority of the wickets. Aakash Chopra stated:
“Shami and Bumrah will together account for seven or more wickets today itself. Shami has already taken one. Seven or more wickets of this innings can go in these bowlers’ names. Siraj is injured, I really hope he is not seriously injured, but he left the field limping a little and Shardul Thakur finished the over.”
The match will move fast – Aakash Chopra
The 44-year-old believes that South Africa will be all out as the match is expected to move fast considering that there is pace on the wicket.
“My third prediction is that South Africa will be all out. The match will move fast because there is pace in this pitch. The scoring rate is not slow on a pitch that has pace, the match keeps moving forward, wickets keep falling and the runs are also scored. Something along those lines is what I am expecting,” Aakash Chopra concluded.
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