South Africa struck back on day one after they were dismissed early on the first day of the first Test in Newlands at Cape Town. South Africa was bowled out for 286 on the first day despite winning the toss and opting to bat first. Jasprit Bumrah made his Test debut, and Rohit Sharma also made it to the playing XI instead of Ajinkya Rahane which came as a surprise to most of the Indian fans.
However, the majority of the day belonged to the Indian team as they bowled out the hosts on the first-day courtesy Bhuvaneshwar Kumar who removed the African top order. On the other hand, AB De Villiers played an entertaining innings to rescue South Africa from the early jitters.
Let’s have a look at the three turning points on day one.
- Bhuvneshwar Kumar rips apart the South African top order
Bhuvaneshwar, who is playing his first Test in South Africa, impressed in the very first session of the match as he picked up the wickets of Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, and Hashim Amla. Elgar had a rare failure as he was removed for a third ball duck and gave India a perfect start in the Test. Markram has had an impressive start to his Test career, but his first match against a high-end team failed. Bhuvneshwar picked up Markram for just five runs. He also picked up the wicket of South Africa’s mainstays at the top of the order Hashim Amla who was dismissed on three.
2. AB De Villiers Wicket Triggers a Collapse
Just as India felt that they had the upper hand, South Africa’s two most reliable batsmen in the day started playing their shots and started playing counter-attacking cricket to put India on the back foot. The hosts went on the lunch break with both the batsmen dominating the Indian bowlers. De Villiers completed his half-century just after the lunch break and looked set for a big score. However, Indian bowlers had some different plans. Jasprit Bumrah bowled a delivery which nipped back and took De Villiers inside edge, and the ball hit the off stump. De Villiers was dismissed on 65. His wicket triggered a mini-collapse as the hosts lost the wickets of Faf Du Plessis, Quinton De Kock and Vernon Philander in quick succession.
- South Africa makes early inroads as openers fall early
South Africa’s opening bowlers, Vernon Philander and Dale Steyn made early inroads to the Indian batting line up early on in the innings. Philander picked up the wicket of the Murali Vijay who was chased a wide delivery and edged one to slips. Shikhar Dhawan, on the other hand, pulled one straight up and Dale Steyn took a comfortable catch off his bowling. India’s skipper Virat Kohli also lost his wicket to Morne Morkel on just five.
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