Insisting that Indian players have played on worse tracks back home, Vice Captain Ajinkya Rahane termed the Wanderers' pitch as challenging and not dangerous.
Rahane said match should continue tomorrow and cited South Africa's tactics to justify resumption.
Rahane scored 48 off 68 balls as India finished with 247 runs in their second innings, setting a 241-run target for South Africa.
Play was halted in the last 15 minutes because Dean Elgar got hit twice in one over, never mind that the Indian batsmen took several blows through the day.
The Indian vice captain said no one stopped South Africa bowlers from bowling bouncers to their tailenders in similar conditions.
The wicket was definitely challenging, but our openers batted so well. The wicket was similar for both teams. Murali Vijay got 25 runs, and he faced 130-140 balls. It was completely the same for everyone. Our approach was that we want to play and win this Test matchAjinkya Rahane, Batsman, India
Pitches were a huge subject of debate when South Africa toured India in 2015. Nagpur pitch was reported as unfit after match finished in three days on a rank turner.
Rahane said that Indian cricketers have played on worse wickets than the Wanderers.
"We never complained about it being a dangerous wicket.
They prepared this wicket, we never told them to prepare a track like this. In India when we play on turning tracks, they are called more dangerous.
Talking about the ball which hit Elgar on the helmet, Rahane said,"I think the ball was back of a length and it kicked off."
I wanted to put South Africa on the backfoot because they were dominating with their bowling. I was just thinking about going aggressive. If the ball is there to be hit, I will play my shot and that’s it...My behaviour off the field is different from my batting because opponents some times see how you are aggressive off the field. I try and bat according to the situation. This was an opportunity for me, because I thought if I perform here I would be a hero.Ajinkya Rahane, Batsman, India
Rahane was left out of the first two Tests in favour of Rohit Sharma. But he returned like a man possessed and stroked his way to a near half-century on a very tough wicket.
(With inputs from PTI)
Video Editor: Mohd Ibrahim
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