The surface provided prodigious turn for the spinners from the first session of the match, which the touring side, now the top-ranked test team, need to win to level the series.
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South Africa also strengthened their spin attack, including off-break bowler Simon Harmer in place of seamer Kyle Abbott.
Elgar’s left-arm spin was used as an attacking option here by Amla, unlike in Mohali where he became an option by accident.
India also beefed up its batting by adding Rohit Sharma to the lineup, while dropping allrounder Stuart Binny and pace bowler Varun Aaron.
This is the third time that India have been dismissed in the vicinity of 200 in the series, having fallen for 201 and 200 in the opening Test they won at Mohali to take a 1-0 lead. Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan have posted 80 (unbroken) in the first innings at Bangalore and 50 at Nagpur. When Dhawan tried a similar shot against Elgar, he only managed to spoon it back to the bowler.
The left hander’s 12 came off 23 balls and was his third low score in the series. I prepare my game for all the three formats of the game but at the moment I am fitting into the Test team, so obviously I am working hard.
The hosts were all out after 78.2 overs, though, leaving the tourists to negotiate an awkward nine overs with the bat.
Cheteshwar Pujara (18) was the other unbeaten batsman at the crease. Exactly what the Proteas had wanted after lunch. His wickets were those of Vijay, skipper Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane in the space of 31 balls. The Indians were struggling at 116/5. He became a victim of S Harmer and was caught by AB DeVillers.
Kagiso Rabada (1-30) broke the stand as Jadeja played onto his stumps in an attempt to go big over the covers. The extra batsman added some cushion while taking twenty wickets on this pitch was a straightforward ask off the spinners. “But being a spinner, I like bowling on such wickets”.
India were at 201/8 and in trouble of not getting the total they desired when they elected to bat.
As in the first two Tests, India will hold the edge with their spinning trio of Ravichandran Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja making the contest tougher for the visitors’ batsman. India finished on 215 all out, skipper Amla would have taken that after losing the toss. Ishant Sharma is the lone pace bowler in the lineup. Morkel, in his second spell, immediately produced reverse swing and trapped Vijay in front with a magnificent out-swinger. Night Watchman Imran Tahir walked out to the middle but will have sleepless night as Ravindra Jadeja clean bowled him with a beauty of a ball.
# Jadeja and Saha put on 48 – India’s second highest partnership vs South Africa for the seventh wicket at Jamtha, Nagpur behind the 50 between Saha and Harbhajan Singh in February 2010.
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Day-night matches at worldwide level have been limited so far only to one-day and Twenty20 games, which are played with a white ball.
