Bowlers pull India back into the game

JOHANNESBURG, January 25

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Seamer Jasprit Bumrah took five wickets as India seized control of the third and final Test against South Africa, ending Day 2 with a 42-run lead on a treacherous wicket at the Wanderers here today. Bumrah, in his third Test, ripped through the middle-order and cleaned up the South African tail with career-best figures of 5/54 as India bowled out their hosts for 194. With South Africa having taken a slender lead of seven runs, the tourists reached 49/1 in their second innings. Murali Vijay (13no) and Lokesh Rahul (16no) will resume on the third day as India look to set South Africa a challenging target.

With 21 wickets tumbling in just two days on a wicket that has pace, bounce and prodigious lateral movement, it appears that any target above 150 will be difficult to overhaul. South Africa lacked their usual intensity in India's second innings and may rue their inability to make deeper inroads into the batting line-up before the close.

India had elevated middle-order batsman Parthiv Patel (16) to the top of the order to give them a right/left hand combination. He made a fast start, but was out to a fantastic catch from Aiden Markram after an inside edge onto his pad from a Vernon Philander (1/11) delivery.

The home side started the second day on 6/1 after dismissing India for 187 and Hashim Amla (61) and nightwatchman Kagiso Rabada (30) put on 64 for the third wicket. Rabada was out five minutes before lunch and South Africa then lost their way in the middle session as AB de Villiers (5), Faf du Plessis (8) and Quinton de Kock (8) all failed, the two falling to Bumrah. The Indian seamer then had Amla caught at mid-wicket, before trapping Andile Phehlukwayo (9) lbw and having Lungi Ngidi (0) caught by wicketkeeper Patel as the innings came to a rapid end.

“We had to scratch around for a few runs and at one stage we were quite far behind the deficit, so to get to 190 was a decent effort,” Amla said. — Reuters 

Scoreboard

India Ist innings 187

South Africa Ist innings 

D Elgar c Patel b Bhuvneshwar 4

A Markram c Patel b Bhuvneshwar 2

K Rabada   c Rahane b Ishant 30

H Amla c Pandya b Bumrah 61

AB de Villiers  b Bhuvneshwar 5

Faf du Plessis  b Bumrah   8

Q de Kock c Patel b Bumrah 8

V Philander c Bumrah b Shami 35

A Phehlukwayo lbw b Bumrah 9

M Morkel not out 9

L Ngidi c Patel b Bumrah   0

Extras: (LB-14, W-9) 23

Total: (all out in 65.5 overs) 194

FOW: 1-3, 2-16, 3-80, 4-92, 5-107, 6-125, 7-169, 8-175, 9-194, 10-194

Bowling

Bhuvneshwar Kumar 19-9-44-3

Jasprit Bumrah 18.5-2-54-5

Ishant Sharma 14-2-33-1

Mohammed Shami 12-0-46-1

Hardik Pandya 2-0-3-0

India 2nd innings 

M Vijay batting 13

P Patel c Markram b Philander 16

L Rahul batting 16

Extras: (LB-4) 4

Total: (for one wicket ) 49  

FOW: 17-1 

Bowling

Vernon Philander 5-2-11-1

Kagiso Rabada 6-1-19-0

Morne Morkel 4-1-9-0

Lungisani Ngidi 2-0-6-0