South Africa Vs India: Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel put hosts on top in Cape Town

As the seam bowlers have enjoyed the bowling since morning on day four of the first Test on a surface of the Newlands, skipper Virat Kohli alongside Rohit Sharma has knit crucial 32-run partnership for the fourth wicket, but that was not enough as South African came right back into the game by picking wickets in quick succession, spearheaded by Vernon Philander.

Treacherous surface or the quality bowling? However, the story of the day could be explained by the 15 wickets which fell in first two sessions of the penultimate day of the Test after the third day’s play was abandoned due to the inclement weather.

At the tea break, India is reeling at 82 for seven on the board which further saw hosts making a spectacular return with the ball early on in 29 overs. Ravichandran Ashwin faced five balls for a single.

South Africa requires another three wickets to lead the series 1-0, and visitors India need 126 runs which seems an improbable task highly at the moment as the surface has equally helped the bowlers.

Wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha (8 off 19) was trapped in front of the stumps before going for the Decision Review System (DRS). The Television replays suggested the ball was clipping the leg-stump, as the on-field umpire Richard Kettleborough raised the dreaded finger.

Interestingly Kettleborough has a tough time on the field which further saw him reversing two decisions of Murali Vijay when India was chasing the score of 208.

Hardik Pandya (1 off 5), who was the top-scorer for India in the first innings, trudged off the ground when AB de Villiers completed a brilliant catch on the bowling of Kagiso Rabada

Kohli, who batting on 28 off 40 balls as his innings included four boundaries and Rohit faced 30 deliveries for ten runs.

The 28-year-old Kohli has trapped in front of the stumps by Philander which further saw the former going upstairs, but the decision was upheld when replays suggested the ball was crashing into the stumps.

Rohit, who was dropped on nine by Keshav Maharaj on the bowling of Kagiso Rabada, but in the very next over, was cleaned up by Philander.

Top-order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara got a beauty from Morne Morkel when he was batting on four of 13 balls.

After South Africa was strangulated on 130 in second innings, India somewhat had a cautious start, but on the penultimate ball of the eighth over of Indian innings the left-handed batsman Shikhar Dhawan was caught by substitute fielder Chris Morris on the bowling of Morne Morkel.

For the first wicket, Dhawan and Murali Vijay post 30 on the board before the former returned to the pavilion on 16 off 20 balls.

On the other side, Vijay was the second man-to-go on the bowling of Philander when AB de Villiers completed a decent catch in the slip cordon.

Interestingly, Vijay (16 off 32) was given out twice, firstly when he was trapped in front of the stumps by Philander before the replays suggested the ball was missing the stumps and then given out for outside edge which subsequently saw the ultra edge had nothing on it.

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