India vs South Africa 2019: Pune - Day 3 Report
Credits - BCCI

India vs South Africa 2019: 2nd Test, Pune – Day 3 Report; As far as the Test match is concerned, it is India’s day but as far as the determination and grit is concerned, it is surely the visitors day. The flamboyant skipper Faf du Plessis and the fight from the tail-enders, especially, Keshav Maharaj and Vernon Philander kept South Africa still in the game and series.

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Faf du Plessis scored 64 runs:

After starting the Day 3 with 3 wickets, South Africa lost Anrich Nortje after adding 8 runs to the tally. Shami got the edge of Nortje while Virat Kohli grabbed a stunner. Following him, Bruyn also walked back thus giving the third wicket to Umesh Yadav in the Test match.

India vs South Africa 2019: Pune - Day 3 Report
Faf du Plessis. (Photo by Isuru Sameera Peris/Gallo Images)

Then came a bit of resilience from Quinton de Kock and Faf du Plessis in the middle. The duo added a 75-run partnership before Ravinchandra Ashwin delivering a masterpiece to dismiss Quinton de Kock. There was enough drama when de Kock was dismissed off Ravichandran Ashwin.

For a moment, he expected that the players are celebrating for a stump out. However, the leg-umpire and the non-striker made Quinton de Kock realise that he was bowled. Muthuswamy, who displayed great composure in Visakhapatnam Test, couldn’t hold for a long time in the middle, as he was given LBW when he left Ravindra Jadeja’s off-spin.

Keshav Maharaj-Vernon Philander added 113 runs, Ashwin picks 4:

Following the wicket, Vernon Philander hung in the middle with the skipper but Faf du Plessis failed to answer Ashwin, as he edged it in the slips. It was expected that the rest of the innings would be a piece of cake for the Indian bowlers but that wasn’t the case there.

India vs South Africa 2019: 2nd Test, Pune - Day 3 Report
Ravichandran Ashwin celebrates a wicket. Credit: AP

Keshav Maharaj stood like a warrior in the middle alongside Vernon Philander to make Indians chase the leather more often than not. They made Indian bowlers toil hard and added the best partnership of their tour so far. After adding 113- run partnership and killing hours of time, Maharaj went back when he failed to put Ashwin down.

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It would have been stumped on Day 3 with 9 wickets but with the time left, the umpires continued to play the game, which saw Ashwin taking his 4th by dismissed Kagiso Rabada. If not for the partnership of Philander and Maharaj, it would have been different headlines in the cricketing world. Now, Indians have to bat without a chance of giving the follow-on.

Brief Scores:

India – 601/5 (Virat Kohli 254*, Mayank Agarwal 108; Rabada 3/93)

South Africa – 275-all out (Maharaj 72, Faf du Plessis – 64; Ashwin 4/69)

At the end of Day 3, India lead the Test Match by 326 runs.

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