In the morning session, Marco Jansen drew the first blood after he removed the opener, Mayank Agarwal, for 26 in the 15th over. Soon, Duanne Oliver joined the party and picked up the key wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane to put the visitors on backfoot. While Pujara could only manage to add three runs, Rahane was dismissed for a golden duck.
Stand-in captain KL Rahul and all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin looked good in their respective crucial contributions to the team’s total.
Rahul smashed a brilliant half-century and stood tall against a quality pace attack before falling for a short-pitch delivery off Jansen. The Karnataka batter top-scored with 50 off 133 balls. Similarly, Ashwin also shined with the bat, scoring 46 off 50 deliveries with the help of six boundaries.
In the absence of regular skipper Virat Kohli, who was ruled out of the second match due to an upper back spasm, Hanuma Vihari was bought in as his replacement.
Vihari looked good in his 17 off 43 before Rassie van der Dussen plucked a stunning catch to end the Andra batters’ innings.
The tourists were eventually bundled out for 202 in 63.1 overs. Jansen picked up four wickets for 31 in 17 overs. Similarly, Kagiso Rabada (3/64) and Olivier (3/64) bagged three scalps each.
In response, the hosts scored 35 at stumps in 18 overs at a loss of one wicket. Mohammed Shami provided the only breakthrough in the form of Aiden Markram. Dean Elgar (11 no) and Keegan Petersen (14 no) are unbeaten at the crease, with South Africa trailing by 167 runs.
Here is how Twitter reacted:
STUMPS, DAY
An enthralling day of Test cricket, where Shami continued his fine form to dismiss Markram after #TeamIndia were bowled out for
Who were you most impressed by today
?? – 35/1 (18)#SAvIND pic.twitter.com/hjTv1FXEvy
— Delhi Capitals (@DelhiCapitals) January 3, 2022
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