So dominant were the spinners that Dean Elgar, who had always made the team mainly on the strength of his batting, created havoc with the ball.
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But the drama unfolded after the first drinks break when India saw two quick wickets fall in the space of four deliveries to give away the advantage to the visitors.
Ashwin grabbed three wickets in the first session to have match figures so far of four wickets for 36 runs. De Villiers top scored with 63 and was lucky to get reprieve when he was caught off a no-ball early on in his innings. India gained marginal 17-run first innings lead.
India managed a slender lead of 17 runs.
Earlier, Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin (5 for 51), Ravindra Jadeja (3 for 55) and Amit Mishra (2 for 35) skittled out South Africa for 184 in 68 minutes in their first innings.
South Africa had little to show on a day that belonged to India in its entirety.
Mohali: The state of the pitch overshadowed cricketing performances on the opening day of India-South Africa Test series at the PCA Stadium, on Thursday. “It is good tactics by India, preparing a wicket like that, but it is not going to get easier”.
De Villiers had almost walked back when the umpires stopped him and repeated replays confirmed the no-ball, much to the visiting team’s delight.
Elgar was somewhat surprisingly brought into the attack before Tahir, but ended the second-wicket stand of 63 when he trapped Pujara leg before with only his fourth delivery.
Ashwin had picked up the first South African wicket near the close of day one, and on Friday the off-spinner first had Elgar caught by Jadeja and then inflicted a double blow in the 46th over, as Amla was stumped and Dane Vilas caught at backward square leg.
Six overs into the second session, Vernon Philander (3) edged a Jadeja delivery to first slip.
But after his departure, Vijay along with Cheteswar Pujara played sensible cricket and added 86 runs for the second wicket before Vijay was dismissed in the ball of Imran Tahir with a brilliant catch taken by substitute Temba Bavuma in the short-leg.
Ajinkya Rahane fell cheaply as India slipped from 161-2 to 164-5. Vijay had looked unfettered by the various bowling changes and wickets they produced, batting with solidity and the odd shot of flair such as the times he dashed out to Simon Harmer and twice crashed boundaries over extra cover.
He said: “It is a very challenging wicket”. The real battle between the bat and ball, to a certain extent has disappeared.
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The next test will be played in Bangalore from November 14 with the remaining two games to be hosted by Nagpur and New Delhi.
