India vs South Africa 2nd Test: Proteas in driver's seat as hosts fold cheaply

Guwahati: After a day of hard toil for the Indian bowlers on Sunday, Kuldeep Yadav felt the pitch here at the ACA Stadium resembled the road for its unresponsive nature. But the Indian batters found negotiating South African bowling on it as difficult as a motorist would find navigating through the pot-holed Bengaluru roads.

Marco Jansen, who hurt the hosts with the bat, returned to haunt them again -- this time with the ball. The gangling paceman produced his fourth career five-wicket haul (6/48) that has brought South Africa on the brink of a famous series win in India after a 25-year gap. Overnight 9/0, India were shot out for 201 in 83.5 overs in just under three sessions, conceding a massive 288-run lead. By stumps on Monday's third day, the tourists had extended their lead to 314 after racing to 26/0 in their second innings.  

Indian batters were anticipating another stern test from a three-pronged South African spin attack on a third-day wicket, but pacer Marco Jansen came out of the syllabus for them. After a largely uneventful first spell (7-0-21-0) that extended from towards the end of second day, the left-armer returned to wreck India with a hostile spell of fast bowling on a pitch that had slowed down a touch here at the ACA Stadium.

India, already reeling after three vital blows from the Proteas' spinners, slipped into deeper crisis as Jansen prised out four wickets in the first 25 balls of his second spell (8-1-18-4) while conceding just 11 runs. KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal (58) largely looked comfortable in in reply to South Africa's 489 all out.

Though both left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj and off-spinner Simon Harmer earned some turn and bounce, both the openers negotiated the tricky phase rather well, embracing contrasting styles. While Rahul remained cautious, Jaiswal never let go of a boundary-scoring opportunity as India slowly but surely pegged away at South Africa's big total.

With the session seemingly going India's way, Maharaj struck to give South Africa an opening, ending a  65-run alliance. The left-armer tossed one on the off, got it to turn and bounce before the ball went off the shoulder of the bat to a safe-as-house Aiden Markram. Jaiswal didn't last long after his 50, becoming the first of Harmer's three victims. The southpaw looked to cut a slightly widish delivery, but the ball jumped more than Jaiswal expected and a late decision to check the cut resulted in tame steer and a catch at backward point. 

Two became three in no time as Harmer ended Sai Sudharsan's stay at 15. An encore of Kolkata looks on cards when Jansen decided to write his own script. After effectively employing his long reach to blast his way to 93 on Sunday, the pacer used his tall frame to extract disconcerting bounce even if the pitch appeared to be getting sluggish. Three of his wickets fell to mean bouncers that left the Indians in complete disarray. 

Dhruv Jurel's attempted pull ballooned to the right of mid-on as the extra bounce resulted in a miscued shot. India went into tea at 102/4 after being 95/1 not too long ago. 

Upon resumption, Rishabh Pant showed undue hurry and paid the price. The stand-in skipper went for a big heave against Jansen only to put wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne in business. If his attempted slog wasn't shocking enough given the team's position, his review of the on-field decision was even more perplexing as replays indicated a big spike on the snicko.

Nitish Reddy got a snorter which he couldn't keep down, Adien Markram completing a one-handed diving catch. Ravindra Jadeja evaded a bouncer, but the ball ricocheted off his shoulder to bat en route to Verreynne.

At 122/7, India looked like they would fold up for a sub-150 total but Washington Sundar (48), batting at No. 4 this time, launched a now-familiar rearguard resistance along with an equally plucky Kuldeep Yadav (19). But Harmer struck again before Jansen returned to complete a six-for and wipe off the Indian tail with a final spell that read 2.5-2-5-2.