KL Rahul’s century was neutralised by a superb counter-offensive ton from the soon-to-be retired Dean Elgar as South Africa seemed heading in the right direction for a primary innings lead, reaching 194 for 3 at tea on the second day of the opening Check towards India right here Wednesday.
It was Rahul’s 101 off simply 137 balls which propelled India to a primary innings rating of 245 on a observe that supplied variable bounce.
However the left-handed Elgar was far more attacking towards a wayward Indian assault whose third and fourth pacers had been rendered utterly ineffective on a great bowling observe.
Enjoying his penultimate Check match, Elgar properly blended defence with a plethora of pulls and tucks off his legs as his 115 not out off 168 balls, took the Proteas to 51 runs inside India’s first innings complete.
Jasprit Bumrah (2/35 in 11 overs) bowled a few wicket-taking deliveries to tug India briefly again into the competition.
Bumrah and his seasoned new-ball colleague Mohammed Siraj (1/39 in 10 overs) did check the house batters however Shardul Thakur (0/47 in 10 overs) seemed insipid and debutant Prasidh Krishna (0/51 in 10 overs) was very erratic, leaking means too many runs.
Such was their profligacy that in South Africa’s first 100 runs, 18 had been boundaries.
The Gujarat slinger ended the 93-run second wicket stand by bowling an ideal off-cutter to southpaw Tony de Zorzi (28 off 62 balls), which pitched on size and moved sufficient to take a thick exterior edge into the arms of Yashasvi Jaiswal at third slip.
Keegan Petersen (2), India’s nemesis in the course of the earlier tour, lasted solely seven deliveries, as he lazily performed away from his physique and dragged a barely again of the size supply coming in with the angle onto his stumps.
Nevertheless, the dismissals did not deter Elgar, who hit as many as 21 boundaries and was fast to chop and pull at any time when something brief got here his means.
Whereas Thakur drifted on Elgar’s pads, Prasidh, who had not so memorable half-century to his identify, both bowled too full or too brief.
Prasidh was imperiously pulled for a six by the South African debutant David Bedingham (32 batting) in an unbroken stand of 81.
Bedingham additionally handed the identical remedy to Thakur as Indian shoulders drooped with passage of time.