India vs South Africa: 3rd Test, Day Two- India gain upper hand after Proteas' dramatic batting collapse

Tahir picked up 5 wickets for South Africa

It was yet another eventful day for the spinners on a wildly turning track in Jamtha, as a whopping 20 wickets fell on day two of the third Test match between India and South Africa, in the Freedom series. Despite so many wickets falling, India slightly gained an upper hand going into the final three days of the Test match.

Starting the day at 11/2, in response to India’s first innings total of 215, the Proteas were left completely clueless by the spin trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra who shared all 10 South African wickets among them.

Ashwin, especially, was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 16.1-6-32-5, which left the South African batsmen searching for answers. He was supported by Ravindra Jadeja, who impressed with 4 wickets. Besides JP Duminy, who scored 35, none of the other batsmen looked set in the middle.

The visitors were cheaply dismissed for just 79 runs, their lowest ever Test score against India, and also the lowest innings by any Test playing nation against India. That the Proteas batsmen were bowled out before lunch session, showed the intent of the Indian team to wrap things up quickly, after the dull draw in Bengaluru.

With a healthy 136-run lead, India began their second innings poorly, as opener Vijay was sent back to the pavillion rather early on in the innings. Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara tried to steady things in the middle, and were dismissed, in quest for runs.

Rohit Sharma, briefly tried to play some big shots, but eventually even he was dismissed for 23. Morkel troubled the Indian batsmen early on in the innings, but it was all about the spinners yet again, as Imran Tahir made full use of the turning track, as he picked up 5 wickets, to bowl out India for 173, in their second outing.

Set a huge target of 310, the visitors yet again, got off to a disastrous start, just like their first innings, and were reeling at 32/2, at stumps on day two. Ashwin, as usual provided the breakthrough for the hosts, dismissing opener Van Zyl for the fifth consecutive time in the Freedom series.

Amit Mishra then bowled a brilliant delivery to dismiss night-watchman Imran Tahir, as South Africa were left to chase 278 more runs, with three full days remaining on an unfriendly track.

Brief Scores: India 215 & 173 (Dhawan 39; Tahir 5/368) vs South Africa 79 (Duminy 35; Ashwin 5/32, Jadeja 4/33) & 32/2 ( Elgar 10*; Mishra 1/3) (Target: 310).

Scorecard:

India won the toss and decided to bat first

India 1^st innings: 215

South Africa 1^st innings: