Rain washes out third day's play

Reeling under severe drought, the Cape Town residents would have heaved a huge sigh of relief with the day-long rain on Sunday but a few hundred fans that had turned up for third day's action of the first Test had to return disappointed after the play was called off without a ball being bowled.

With drizzle showing no sign of relenting, the match officials abandoned the day's play at local time 3:35 pm. However, the game has progressed so rapidly in the first two days that despite losing a full day, there is every chance of a result if the skies remain clear. There is no forecast for rain on fourth and fifth day and weather predictions here generally don't go wrong.

While South Africa still hold an edge over India with their second innings score reading at 65/2 for an overall lead of 142, the tourists can't be counted out yet given the manner in which the game has panned out in the first two days. Teams' fortunes have swung wildly from end to the other, and the South Africans by now would have realised that this Indian team wouldn't just give up without a fight.

Indians would be a little more disappointed as they missed out on a chance to bowl in overcast conditions that Cheteshwar Pujara had hoped for.      

"It is very important," Pujara said on Saturday when asked about time left in the Test. "We have heard that there might be some rain  tomorrow  seeing the forecast. So there will be some clouds around and our bowlers might get some more swing. But time is important, even if there is a rain interruption we have plenty of time to get a result in this game."

Brief scores: South Africa: 286 and 65-2 in 20 overs (Aiden Markram 34; Hardik Pandya 2-17) vs India: 209.