IND 65/3 in 26 overs: Mulder tails the ball down leg and Kohli flicks it behind de Kock for FOUR. Again in the zone, employing some nice leaves to ball outside off and taking on the ones in his arc.

IND 60/3 in 25 overs: Ngidi slides the ball in and Kohli easily flicks it past mid-wicket for a beautiful FOUR.  A bit of a mix-up as Kohli aims for a quick single after a gentle push as Pujara sends him back.

IND 54/3 in 24 overs: Pujara continues to dead-bat Mulder. He’s in no hurry to set off the blocks. Another maiden.

IND 54/3 in 23 overs: Ngidi gets the ball to sit up and crash into Rahul’s gloves. He’s in pain this time and the physio’s out to give some treatment. Ngidi continues to nip the ball and there’s the edge! Rahul pokes to Elgar at first slip. The halt in play and the blow has ruffled him up for a bit and Rahul’s fortitude tapers away.  Kohli in at 5.

KL Rahul c Elgar b Ngidi 23 (74b 4×4)

IND 54/2 in 22 overs: Mulder comes across as someone who could exploit a heavy ball. Rahul waits to block Mulder on length but the ball rises onto him quickly from the deck to brush his arm.

IND 53/2 in 21 overs: Ngidi goes a touch too full and Rahul eases into a flowing drive. He picks up three runs as Maharaj gives a long chase.

IND 50/2 in 20 overs: Mulder into the attack and he cuts Pujara’s defence in half with a cracking straighter one that zips through between his bat and pad. Pujara is struggling to time the ball as Mulder mixes up his lengths.

IND 50/2 in 19 overs: Ngidi strays down leg and Rahul whips it past mid-wicket for a crunching boundary.

IND 45/2 in 18 overs: Jansen keeps the ball on length as Rahul continues to judge his leaves to perfection. Another maiden.

IND 45/2 in 17 overs: Ngidi replaces Rabada and starts with a juicy half-volley, which is clobbered through mid-on for four by Pujara. Ngidi nips it in and Pujara lobs it straight to Rabada at short mid-wicket and dropped! Massive reprieve for Puji in the circumstances. The ball falls low to the left of Rabada who slips it as he lunges forward. Can Pujara make it count from here? Ngidi follows up with a fine delivery that nearly square up Puji, it cops the outside-edge and zips to third slip.

IND 39/2 in 16 overs: Jansen continues. Five dots later, Jansen bowls a fuller ball that’s swinging back in – Rahul just has to help it to the fine-leg boundary. Four from the over.

IND 35/2 in 15 overs: Pujara on strike. Rabada steaming in. Three slips in place for him. Testing over from Rabada which also comprised a no-ball. Just one off the over.

IND 34/2 in 14 overs: Here’s Jansen. Rahul on strike. Six dots on the trot. Jansen has bowled probing lines and lengths this spell.

IND 34/2 in 13 overs: Rabada to Thakur, 4byes as the ball eludes de Kock behind the stumps. Thakur’s defence has been watertight so far – he has left well too. Commentator’s curse? OUT! Thakur is caught at slip. The nightwatchman departs. He is squared up and the ball catches the shoulder of the bat and goes straight to third slip. Pujara joins Rahul.

IND 30/1 in 12 overs: Jansen didn’t make Rahul play at the first four balls. Easy leave for the opener. Jansen shifted his line to middle and leg, made Rahul play at the fifth ball- defended back to him. The last one is full and swinging back in. Dot to finish.

IND 30/1 in 11 overs: Rabada bangs one in and Rahul ducks in anticipation of the bounce. The ball keeps low and crashes into KL’s chest. Rahul’s up on his feet quickly and gets off strike with a leg-bye.

IND 28/1 in 10 overs: Jansen continues to angle the ball away from Thakur, provoking him to needle at one. He bumps one in and Shardul efficiently makes room and cuts the ball over point for SIX! Goodness me, some power on the horizontal slash from Thakur. Jansen corrects his line and keeps the ball tight onto the wicket. Shardul trusts the bounce off the length and lets the deliveries sail marginally over the middle-stump.

IND 22/1 in 9 overs: Rabada gets the ball to move away off the fuller length and Rahul offers no shot at it. Rabada drops short and angles the ball in, aiming to feed in at Rahul’s outside-edge. Rahul watchfully evades and keeps his blade out of the way, even as the ball springs in ever so close to the edge. Maiden for Rabada.

IND 22/1 in 8 overs: Jansen swings one in sharply and hits Thakur flush in the pads. Loud shout and SA goes for a review as umpire Holdstock denies a wicket. The replays suggest that the ball has swung in and straightened perfectly but misses the middle-stump by a couple of inches. Jansen follows up with another delivery that shapes away from the length to beat Thakur.

Jansen from the other end

IND 22/1 in 7 overs: Rabada begins with the ball angling in and Rahul dangerously lobs it in the air ahead of mid-wicket. Rabada follows up with a delivery shaping away from KL who has a sharp nudge at it. The ball flies past a vacant gully and through to the third-man fence for FOUR.

KL Rahul and Shardul Thakur at the crease. India is 16/1 with a 146-run lead. Kagiso Rabada to start the proceedings.

Day 4 underway!

12-40PM IST: We’re back for Day 4, folks. The game has moved along pretty quickly even as we had lost out on the entirety of Day 2. India with its 146-run lead is well ahead in the game. However, with the weather forecast predicting a gloomy Thursday finish, Kohli and Co. will have to move along their task without much ado.  Given the collapse that it suffered the previous day, they will also be aware of the Rabada-Ngidi threat.

The inspired Mohammed Shami, with exemplary wrist and seam position, scalped five for 44 as South Africa, replying to India’s 327, was bowled out for 197 on the third day of the first Test. Read about the whole day’s play here – REPORT

Playing XIs

India 11: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli(c), Rishabh Pant(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj

READ:
Shami: 375-400 would be good target for South Africa

South Africa 11: Dean Elgar(c), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock(w), Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi

Toss: India wins toss, opts to bat

Kohli: We will bat first. Runs on the board playing away home has been our strength. The pitch tends to quicken up here on Day 2-3. Our success away from home started from the series we played here last time. Very challenging place to play. South African unit always strong and they know the conditions. The prep has been wonderful. Quite lucky to get the centre-wicket practice. Siraj, Shami, Bumrah, Ashwin and Thakur is the all-rounder.

Elgar: Nice and relaxed and looking forward to what is going to be a brilliant Test series. We had a good week’s camp in Johannesburg. We are prepared as best as we could. Debutant in Marco Jansen. Tall left-arm bowler. Mulder as all-rounder. Kesh is our spinner. KG, Lungi and Marco are the pacers

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