SA overcome early setback

South Africa lost an early wicket but overcame the setback to consolidate their innings in a fruitful first session on the second day of the third Test.

At lunch on Thursday here at the Wanderers, South Africa, overnight 6/1, had moved to 81 for three in 31 overs with Hashim Amla (32 n.o.) looking to build on his start in the company of AB de Villiers who was yet to face a ball. The hosts now trail India by 106 runs after gathering 75 runs for the loss of two wickets in the first session.    

Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled beautifully in the first spell, beating both overnight batsmen – opener Dean Elgar and night watchman Rabada (30) – times without number. He consistently hit the right lengths and maintained impeccable lines besides getting the ball to jag either way. Rabada and Elgar kept swishing at the ball either missing or occasionally edging it.

One such ball gobbled up Elgar who was all at sea, especially against Bhuvneshwar. The right-arm pacer pitched one on the leg and then got it to seam away and Elgar can't but nick it behind the wickets to Parthiv Patel.

That was the lone success for a long time as Rabada and Amla survived a testing period with some pluck and plenty of luck. As the Indians ploughed away without much success, Rabada and Amla began to pick some useful boundaries to eat away at India's lead. The duo added 64 runs for the third wicket and this was more than what South Africa would have expected from the Rabada. The right-hander faced 86 balls to keep his top-order batsmen getting exposed to the new ball early.

His resistance finally came to an end when Ishant Sharma got the ball kick away and the batsman couldn't avoid nicking it to gully where Ajinkya Rahane took a sharp catch as India heaved a sigh of relief.

Brief scores: India: 187 all out vs South Africa (O/n: 6/1): 81/3 in 31 overs (Kagiso Rabada 30,  Hahsim  Amla 32 n.o.; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 2-17).