Philander gives me goosebumps - Phehlukwayo

Johannesburg, January 25: Andile Phehlukwayo says watching South Africa team-mate Vernon Philander bowl gives him goosebumps after his fine showing against India on day one of the third Test.

Philander's figures were 1-1 from eight overs at lunch, and he finished with 2-31 including 10 maidens as India were skittled for 187 on a difficult batting pitch.

Phehlukwayo, playing just his fourth Test, also chipped in with a couple of wickets for the Proteas – who have an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series – but the 21-year-old is astonished by the skills of Philander, who brought up a half-century of Test appearances at the Wanderers.

"Vernon once again just showed his class and being on the field with him in his 50th game was unbelievable," Phehlukwayo said.

"When I watch him bowl I get goosebumps at times, to imagine how consistent a guy can be on a length and move the ball both ways.

"As a batter you can't predict where the ball is going.

"As a youngster I look up to him. Hopefully he can get more wickets for South Africa."

India may have endured another difficult outing with the bat, but Cheteshwar Pujara – who made a valiant 50 having taken 54 balls to get off the mark – believes their score could prove to be a valuable one, with South Africa 6-1 in reply.

"This is one of the toughest pitches I've played on. And as we saw, it was difficult to score runs, especially in the first session. It was difficult to rotate the strike," he said.

"The pitch has a lot of bounce and seam movement as well. There is enough pace too. So, we had to work hard to score runs.

"But the total we have on the board, I think it is as good as scoring 300 on any other wicket. As we saw, we got a wicket today and if we bowl well, I think we'll get them out.

"I would say it wasn't a bad day for us."

Source: OPTA