South Africa Vs India: Tea Report – Visitors dominate Proteas

South Africa Vs. India, Tea Break: Indian bowlers have kept South African batsmen quit which saw the visitors eking out wickets at regular intervals, as the Proteas were 230 for seven at tea in 53 overs on the first day of the opening cricket Test against visiting India at Newlands in Cape Town.

Keshav Maharaj is batting on 23 off 27 balls, as Kagiso Rabada faced five balls for-a-run.

As skipper Virat Kohli used five bowlers, except off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin, all were among the wickets. Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s figures see four for 68 in 14 overs, as Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah and Hardik Pandya bagged wicket apiece.

Meanwhile, Irfan Pathan stated this:

Big wicket of ABD on debut.well done Bumrah on ur first of many. I’m excited for team India as he will be lethal against lower order batsmen which is crucial for winning test matches

— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) January 5, 2018

Could be seen as the massive advertisement for the Test cricket in a nutshell, but the way Team India bowled has been phenomenal on the first-day track with Bhuvneshwar Kumar leading the wickets column with four wickets.

For the seventh-wicket, the bowling all-rounder Philander (23 off 35) added 19 runs when he was bowled on a beauty by Mohammed Shami at South Africa’s score of 221 in 50.2 overs.

In between showing brief resilience, the left-handed batsman Quinton de Kock and Philander steadied struggling South After after losing two crucial wickets at lunch, but that was cut short when de Kock perished.

The 25-year-old left-handed batsman de Kock smashed seven fours in his 40-ball 43-run knock.

For the sixth wicket stand, wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock struck a 60-run stand alongside Vernon Philander – to take his side past 200 before the former was dismissed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar after Wriddhiman Saha claimed the regulation catch.

Skipper Faf Du Plessis registered his 16th Test half-century before playing a rash shot on the bowling of Hardik Pandya when wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha claimed a regulation catch when the hosts’ score was 142 in 35.5overs.

The right-handed batsman du Plessis registered 62 off 104 deliveries as his innings was comprised of 12 boundaries and in which seven already came in the morning session.

Post lunch, the 33-year-old Pretoria-born de Villiers was the first man to return to the hut which saw him adding six runs to his total after lunch.

In the second session, before losing de Villiers, the Proteas added 19 runs which further put an end to the 114-run stand for the third-wicket between de Villiers and Faf du Plessis.

With no feet movement whatsoever, De Villiers (65 off 84) was dismissed by debutant Jasprit Bumrah when the former found the inside edge crashing right onto the stumps.

Earlier, at lunch, South Africa was 107 for three in 26 overs when de Villiers was batting on 59 off 65 deliveries, and du Plessis scored 37 off 67 balls.

Follow India’s tour to South Africa:  South Africa faces India — Freedom Trophy