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SA vs IND, 1st Test: Twitter Reacts As South Africa Replies Strongly With The Ball

By Prince

Updated - 05 Jan 2018, 10:35 PM

India South Africa Cape Town Bhuvneshwar Kumar
India's Bhuvneshwar Kumar took four wickets in the first innings.

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India finished day one on  28 for 3 after bowling out South Africa for 286 in the first innings in Cape Town.

India began their reply on a promising note with Shikhar Dhawan hitting a couple of fours in the very first over. However, Dhawan and Murali Vijay could not give the visitors a strong start as both perished while playing poor shots as India found themselves reeling at 16 for 2. And even before the visitors could recover from the early setbacks, they suffered another setback when Morne Morkel dismissed Virat Kohli for just 5.

Faf du Plessis’ decision to bat first was proven wrong straightaway by Bhuvneshwar Kumar as he took three wickets even before the spectators could settle down. Dean Elgar, South Africa’s highest run-scorer in Tests last year, was the first go, edging one behind the stumps in the very first over. He was soon followed by his opening partner Aiden Markram in the hut before Bhuvneshwar struck again to remove Hashim Amla and reduce the hosts to 12 for 3.

But before the visitors could inflict further damage on the Proteas, AB de Villiers, playing his first five-day Test in almost two years, launched a stunning counterattack to ease the pressure off his side. He was well supported by skipper Faf du Plessis who did not look fluent but manged to hang. The duo helped South Africa reach lunch without losing any wicket with the scoreboard reading 107. De Villiers finished the session on 59 off 65 while du Plessis was batting on 37.

The duo, however, could not much after the lunch as debutant Jasprit Bumrah castled de Villiers for 65 to bring an end to the dangerous looking 114-run partnership. 16 runs later, Hardik Pandya removed Faf du Plessis before Quinton de Kock and Vernon Philander helped the hosts to cross the 200-run mark by adding 60 runs. With de Kock threatening to cut lose, Bhuvneshwar Kumar added one more to his kitty just at the right time by inducing a thin edge that ended the keeper-batsman’s 40-ball 43 runs knock, laced with seven fours.

Philander and Keshav Maharaj played handy knocks to help their side over 250. The visitors were then further frustrated by Kagiso Rabada and Dale Steyn before Ravichandran Ashwin ended the 22-run stand by dismissing the former for 26 to reduce the Proteas to 280 for 9. Six runs later, the off-spinner struck again to dismiss Morne Morkel and the South Africa innings on 286.

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

https://twitter.com/sagarcasm/status/949307998987476992

https://twitter.com/sagarcasm/status/949306744039067648

https://twitter.com/ynakg1/status/949248172831916033?

https://twitter.com/sagarcasm/status/949248270953426944

https://twitter.com/AllTimeBakchod/status/949203690384011264?

 

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