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SA vs IND, 1st Test: Twitter Reacts As Hardik Pandya's All-Round Show Helps India Claw Their Way Back

By Prince

Updated - 06 Jan 2018, 10:36 PM

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The second day belonged entirely to Hardik Pandya as after blowing away South Africa with his quickfire knock he dismissed both their openers to help India finish day two on a strong note. On the other hand, the Proteas, after taking a handy 77-run lead in the first innings, ended the proceedings on 65 for 2, extending their overall lead to 142 in the first Test at Newlands.

India could have tasted success early on when Dean Elgar top-edged while he was yet to open his account but Mohammed Shami couldn’t cover enough ground to get his hands under the ball while running backward. Since then, Elgar and Aiden Markram went largely untested as they laid a solid foundation for the hosts. But just when it looked like the Proteas would close the day without suffering any setback, Markram was dismissed against the run of play by Hardik Pandya. The right-handed batsman scored 34 including seven fours.

Pandya, meanwhile, was not done yet and soon dismissed Dean Elgar to reduce the hosts to 59 for two from 52 for no loss. Hashim Amla and Kagiso Rabada then helped the hosts to reach stumps without suffering any further setback.

Earlier, Hardik Pandya played a brilliant knock of 93 helped India to recover from a disastrous position and post a respectable 209. With the scoreboard reading 28 for 3, India started day two firmly on the backfoot. However, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma managed to cross the first big hurdle ahead of them which was to see off the first hour of the play. The duo faced almost everything that was thrown at them with grit before the ball was given to Kagiso Rabada. The youngest and the least experienced South Africa’s formidable pace quartet broke the dodgy stand with a 145 kmph inswinger which pinned Rohit Sharma on his pads.

At Lunch, India had huffed and puffed to 76 for 4 – having added just 48 runs in a testing morning session. But all the good work and resistance was undone on the very first ball after the break when Cheteshwar Pujara perished while playing a poor shot off Vernon Philander. Five runs later, Philander struck once again, removing Ravichandran Ashwin to reduce the visitors to 81. Wriddhiman Saha also failed to deliver as he sent back by Dale Steyn for a duck.  Hardik Pandya and Bhuvneshwar Kumar then halted South Africa’s charge with a brilliant 99-run stand before Morne Morkel dismissed the latter for 25. Pandya was next to go, edging one behind the stumps to miss a well-deserved century by just seven runs.

Here is how Twitter reacted to the day’s play:

 

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