×

India take lunch at 85/2 vs South Africa on Day 1, 3rd Test at Nagpur

Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay were dismissed in the first session.

Murali Vijay was looking in good nick before he was dismissed for 40 © AFP (File photo)
Murali Vijay was looking in good nick before he was dismissed for 40 © AFP (File photo)

India go to lunch at 85 for 2 after they were provided with a good start from their openers Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan, who put on 50 for the opening wicket on Day 1 of third Test at Nagpur. Dhawan was dismissed for just 12 caught and bowled by Dean Elgar, but Vijay had kicked on and was well settled by then. He was also willing to take on the spinners, especially Simon Harmer, who he hit for a six, charging down the track. Dean Elgar was also getting a good amount of turn and he did trouble the batsmen on more than one occasion. Vijay was trapped leg before off a magnificent delivery from Morne Morkel, who got the ball to swing away just a tad. It was however good enough to get rid of the settled batsman. South Africa’s main spinner Imran Tahir has not been particularly effective so far. FULL CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs South Africa 2015, 3rd Test at Nagpur

South Africa started off with Morkel and Kagiso Rabada with the new ball. Morkel was able to generate some pace and bounce early on. But the there was not much carry just after a few overs. There was not much bounce either as a short ball hit Vijay on the arm guard when he was looking to duck. Spin was introduced early and it started to cause the batsmen some trouble. The crowd at the stadium has been outstanding so far. There were initially chants of ‘AB AB’ for Ab de Villiers but soon changed to ‘India India’ when the match started. Live Cricket Updates: India vs South Africa 2015, 3rd Test at Nagpur, Day 1

India win the toss and elected to bat first. The hosts made a couple of changes from the Bengaluru Test to their squad. Rohit Sharma regained his place in the team in place of Varun Aaron. Amit Mishra was added into the team as the third spinner in place of all-rounder Stuart Binny. India lead the 4-match series 1-0, with the 4th and final Test set to be played in Delhi after this match.

Brief scores:

India 83 for 2 (Murali Vijay 40, Cheteshwar Pujara 18*; Morne Morkel 1 for 19, Dean Elgar 1 for 7) vs South Africa

Full Scorecard

(Pramod Ananth is a reporter at CricketCountry. He has represented Karnataka table tennis under-15, and is a hardcore supporter of Liverpool FC. His Twitter handle is @pramz)

trending this week