Live Cricket Score, India vs South Africa, 1st Test, Day 2 at Cape Town: Pandya removes SA openers

Hello and welcome to the live blog of the first Test between India and South Africa at Cape Town, South Africa. I, Suvajit Mustafi, will be bringing all the intriguing news, match happenings and highlights as well funny posts from the world of social media.

Although India had a splendid start on Day 1 of the first Test, they fizzled against South African bowling attack. Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn cleaned the top-order cheaply. After India bowled out the host for 286, they were left in disarray at 28 for 3, trailing by 258 runs. India batted only 11 overs that proved too hot to handle. In the first half of the day, Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s remarkable bowling reduced South Africa to 12 for 3. However, AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis counterattacked with gritty half-centuries.

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Post the dismissal of du Plessis and de Villiers, the lower order chipped in as the ball got softer. Bhuvneshwar and Ravichandran Ashwin carried the bowling attack on their shoulders sharing 6 wickets. However, things turned around when India came to bat. Some poor shots costed India heavily. Vijay was caught at gully off Philander and four balls later Steyn caught Shikhar Dhawan off his own. However, the biggest prized scalp fell to Morkel who came on and produced a sharply-lifting delivery which Virat Kohli edged to wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock after making just 5.

Just as South Africa’s lower order chipped in, India would expect their batsmen to follow a similar template. Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara are presently unbeaten on 0 and 5 respectively.