Delhi: Australia has strengthened its position in the first Test against South Africa on the basis of Matt Renshaw's brilliant batting and captain Pat Cummins' stormy innings. On the fourth day at Kingsmead ground in Durban, Australia declared its second innings at tea time after scoring 314 runs for 6 wickets. Renshaw, who scored 190 runs in the first innings, also played an excellent inning of 82 runs in the second innings. With this, South Africa got a difficult target of 421 runs to win.

Matt Renshaw showed his strength in both innings

This test is proving to be memorable for Matt Renshaw. After scoring 190 runs in the first innings, he scored 82 runs in 99 balls in the second innings. The special thing about his batting was that he made excellent use of shots like reverse sweep and maintained pressure on the South African bowlers.

Renshaw seemed to be moving towards his second consecutive century, but Keshav Maharaj ended his innings with a brilliant catch.

Nick Maddinson provided relief with aggressive batting

Australia progressed its second innings by 33 runs without any loss after the third day's play ended early due to bad light. On the fourth day, Nick Maddinson batted aggressively and scored 48 runs in 38 balls.

His innings included 6 fours and 2 sixes. He remained just two runs away from his half-century. Anrich Nortje's brilliant yorker shattered his stumps.

On the other hand, Travis Head scored just 11 runs and was caught at mid-on by Marco Yansen. His performance abroad in Test cricket has also been a topic of discussion. His average in Australia is around 52, while outside the country it is 31.6.

Labuschagne missed again, even Steve Smith did not survive

Marnus Labuschagne made a good start at number three, but he was out after scoring 37 runs in 58 balls. The interesting thing was that in the first innings also he had scored the same number of runs and on the same number of balls. He returned from the field disappointed after being caught at cover off Keshav Maharaj's ball.

Steve Smith also hit some good shots and tried to build a partnership with Labuschagne. He moved forward and hit a brilliant six off Simon Harmer's ball, but after some time Marco Yanson caught him. Smith was out after scoring 27 runs.

Bad light and changing pitch increased the challenge

Weather is also playing an important role in this test. On the first three days, play had to be stopped early due to bad light. For this reason, Australia tried to score runs quickly on the fourth day, so that it could get enough time to determine the result of the match.

Kingsmead's pitch is also becoming difficult for the batsmen. Sometimes the ball is staying low and sometimes there is a good bounce in it. Keshav Maharaj and Simon Harmer are also getting turn from the pitch. In South Africa's first innings, the batsmen did not take full advantage of the relatively easy conditions, but now they face a tougher challenge.

Pat Cummins wreaked havoc in the last overs

Australia scored runs quickly in the last overs before declaring the innings. Captain Pat Cummins scored unbeaten 32 runs in just 12 balls. He increased the pressure on the South African bowlers by hitting three sixes in one over of Simon Harmer. Beau Webster remained unbeaten after scoring 39 runs.

Australia declared the innings at 314/6 and set a target of 421 runs for South Africa. Now the biggest challenge before the host team will be to save the initial wickets and bat long on the constantly changing pitch.