India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal became India’s first half-centurion of the ongoing Test series against South Africa. Jaiswal scored 58 runs and became the third Indian left-handed opener to score a fifty in Tests against South Africa.
The first to achieve the feat was WV Raman who scored 57 runs from 124 balls in Kanpur in 1996. 18 years later, current India head coach Gautam Gambhir scored 96 in Kanpur as well. In 2010, Gambhir scored 80 in Centurion and followed it up with 93 in Cape Town next year. So far, no India left-handed opener has scored a Test century against South Africa.
Replying to South Africa's giant total of 489 at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati, Jaiswal shared a 65-run opening partnership with KL Rahul. In the 22nd over, the partnership was broken with Keshav Maharaj getting Rahul caught at first slip by Aiden Markram. Rahul scored 22 runs from 63 balls.
On the first ball of the 29th over, Jaiswal reached his fifty from 85 deliveries. This is 23-year-old's 13th half-century in Tests.
India suffer batting collapse on Day 3
In the 33rd over, Simon Harmer bowled a delivery which stopped into the surface before getting an outside edge off the southpaw's bat. Short third man fielder Marco Jansen put in a dive and pulled off an excellent low catch to send Jaiswal back to the pavilion.
When Jaiswal departed, India were 95/2. The hosts suffered a collapse as Sai Sudharsan fell to Harmer and Jansen dismissed Dhruv Jurel for an 11-ball duck. India were 102/4 after first session.
After the break, Jansen dismissed stand-in skipper Rishabh Pant as well. The tall pacer extracted extra bounce from the surface and dismissed Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja. India lost seven wickets for 122 in the 44th over. India need a big partnership to avoid follow-on.