In a spirited bowling performance in Cape Town, India bowled out South Africa for 210in first innings, not letting them take a substantial lead. Jasprit Bumrah was on fire bagging his seventh fifer in red-ball cricket. Like Indian skipper Virat Kohli in the first innings, Keegan Petersen turned out to be the lone warrior for hosts as he registered a 72-run knock. With South Africa getting bundled out, India took a 70-run lead on Day 2 despite losing both openers.
Starting Day 2’s play at 17/1 with skipper Dean Elgar already back in the hut, Bumrah struck early and sent opener Aiden Markram packing off the second ball of the over. Nighwatchman Keshav Maharaj frustrated Indian bowlers for a while but Umesh Yadav managed to get his wicket. Maharaj contributed with a 25-run knock. India were able to get only two wickets in the first session.
Once again, it was Yadav who provided the breakthrough by forcing an edge off Rassie van der Dussen’s bat early in the second session. Dussen shared a 67-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Petersen. In-form Temba Bavuma also got off to a good start after getting dropped off Shardul Thakur’s bowling early in his innings. But Mohammed Shami was brought back into the attack and Bavuma became Kohli’s 100th catch in the red-ball format helping him enter the list of greats. Bavuma scored 28 runs off 52 deliveries. Shami followed it up with another wicket by sending Kyle Verreynne back with a two-ball duck.
Marco Jansen showed some resilience in the middle but Bumrah had the last laugh after his on-field incident in the Johannesburg Test. Bumrah pitched one up and straight to beat Jansen’s bat and uproot the off stump. As Jansen walked off the field with seven runs to his name, Bumrah did not celebrate the wicket in an animated fashion. Bumrah got the big wicket in the third session by getting the better of Petersen. The young Proteas batter scored 72 runs off 166 deliveries including nine fours.
Shardul Thakur too joined the party by getting the wicket of Kagiso Rabada. The Proteas tail wagged for a while frustrating Indian bowlers but Bumrah completed his fifer by getting the wicket of Ngidi.
Decent start for India
South Africa speedsters were on the attack with the new ball. KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal made mistakes and departed quickly to Jansen and Rabada respectively. With India reduced to 24/2 in the sixth over, Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara took charge of the innings. The two did not let South Africa dominate and scored quickly. The two shared an unbeaten 33-run partnership for the third wicket as India ended Day 2 with 57/2 on the board.
