India revive fortunes with late wickets on opening day

After winning the toss, Faf du Plessis chose to bat first and the openers responded to the call by valiantly putting up an 85-run partnership before Ravichandran Ashwin removed Dean Elgar to give India the first strike of the match. But Aiden Markram was steady at one end and partnered Hashim Amla went on to forge a 63-run partnership before becoming the off-spinner’s second victim, scoring 94 runs. Although AB de Villiers managed to float in the wicket for some time, Ishant Sharma breached his defense before Amla and du Plessis retained control with a 47-run partnership. The slide, however, happened quickly and it was started by a superb piece of fielding from Pandya, who responded to Amla's quick single in his follow-through by getting to the ball sharply, swivelling in his throw to knock down the stumps at the non-striker's end to send Amla packing for 82. Quinton de Kock was out first delivery to Ashwin, edging him to slip to continue his wretched run against off-spinners and Vernon Philander added more worries to the hosts’ dressing room by being the second run-out on the day and South Africa ended the day with 269/6.

Starting the innings from 269/6, Indian bowlers, especially Ashwin, bowled with a lot of panache but saw catches being dropped. No less than three catches were put down in less than two hours and taking a benefit of that, the South African skipper punished India for the mistakes, farming the strike and shepherding the tail well past 300 until Ishant castled him when the score was 333/9. India’s innings started in typical fashion as KL Rahul and Cheteshwar Pujara got out in back-to-back balls that reduced India to a paltry 28/2. But with Kohli being on the crease, Indians hopes were pinned on him and he didn’t disappoint. But after a nice 79-run partnership, Vijay’s unwanted bit of adventurousness against Keshav Maharaj cost him his wicket. While the skipper was no less than a picture of composure at one end, a familiar collapse ensued in the middle order that left India with 164/5. However, Pandya came out with a calm head on his shoulders and ensured that not only did he support to Kohli, but also that there would be no more casualties before stumps.

Lungi Ngidi pins India on the mat

With Kohli already enjoying the comforts of the dressing room, India needed Parthiv and Pujara to stand up to the occasion, but the latter’s lack of athleticism made sure that he became the first player since Stephen Fleming in 2000 to be run-out in both the innings of a Test match. For South Africa, the series was all but sealed by then and Parthiv decided to open the floodgates a little more by trying to pull a Rabada short ball to backward square leg and Morkel, running in from fine-leg, took a screamer that was pretty much reminiscent of  Glenn McGrath’s catch to send Michael Vaughan packing in the 2000 Ashes. Even though Pandya didn’t last long, Shami and Rohit gave the Indian fans some hope with a 54-run partnership. However, once Rohit was dismissed by a brilliant catch by de Villiers in the deep, the match result was not in question anymore. There was still time to put some icing on the cake though as Ngidi completed a sixfer on his debut to secure a 135 run victory.