Session 2 Highlights:
India (153 & 80/3) beat South Africa (55 & 176) by 7 wickets in Cape Town to level 2-match series 1-1.
India openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma have come out all guns blazing in their chase of 79 against South Africa.
Jaiswal has targeted Kagiso Rabada and Nandre Burger from the word go while Rohit has been playing the supporting role. Both batters have adopted aggression as the way to deal with the uneven bounce on this Newlands pitch.
Burger, however, bounced back to dismiss Jaiswal for 28. Rabada followed it up with the wicket of Shubman Gill.
Session 1 Summary:
Jasprit Bumrah Takes 6 Wickets, South Africa 176 All Out (Aiden Markram 106) In 2nd Innings; India Need 79 Runs To Win
At the beginning of the day, South Africa found themselves trailing by 36 runs, and it was Aiden Markram's exceptional Test innings that propelled them to establish a semblance of a lead. Despite facing consistent challenges from Jasprit Bumrah, Markram displayed great resilience, executing remarkable strokes. Bumrah, on the other hand, maintained a steady performance and concluded with a six-wicket haul. The pitch's unpredictable bounce poses challenges, making the conditions challenging. Nevertheless, India can rightfully sense that they are in a favorable position in the game.
Mohammed Siraj finally gets the wicket of Aiden Markram:
Mohammed Siraj, who took 6 wickets in the first innings, produced the prized scalp of Aiden Markram. Markram scored a blazing hundred and got the Proteas' lead over 50, giving them something to bowl at.
Aiden Markram hits a century for the ages!
Aiden Markram scores his 7th Test hundred to put India under immense pressure at the Newlands. Dropped on 73 by KL Rahul, the Proteas opener took the attack to the opposition as he kept losing batting partners at the other end.
KL Rahul drops Aiden Markram on 73*
Bumrah to Markram, DROPPED! Short and wide delivery outside off stump is edged to the wicketkeeper who shelves an easy catch to give the set batter a massive reprieve with South Africa 30 runs ahead.
Jasprit Bumrah's 9th five-for breakup:
3 Five wicket hauls in South Africa.
2 Five wicket hauls in England.
2 Five wicket hauls in West Indies.
1 Five wicket haul in Australia.
1 Five wicket haul in India.
Jasprit Bumrah takes 5!
Keshav Maharaj c Shreyas Iyer b Bumrah 3(4) - South Africa 111/7 in 25.2 ovs, lead India (153) by 13 runs
Bumrah is on fire at Newlands!
Marco Jansen c and b Bumrah 11(9) - South Africa (103/6 in 23.5 ovs) lead by 5 runs. Full delivery on middle stump is hit straight back at the bowler who takes a sharp catch on his follow-through.
Bumrah running through Proteas batting
Kyle Verreynne c Siraj b Bumrah 9(7) - South Africa 85/5 in 21.1 ov, trail India (153) by 13 runs. Short ball is hit straight to the fielder at mid-on.
Boom boom Bumrah strikes early
David Bedingham c Rahul b Bumrah 11(12) - South Africa 66/4 in 17.6 ov. Batter looks to drive a delivery outside off-stump on good length but only manages to get a thick outside-edge to the wicketkeeper.
Pitch Report | Shaun Pollock and Sunil Gavaskar: "You don't want these kind of conditions. If you bowl a full delivery, it's fine. If you bowl a short delivery, it's fine. But it's all happening from a quality length and there's nothing you can do as a batter when it hits that area and stands up steeply which we saw happen on countless occasions. Was it a 55 wicket? No. Certainly wasn't a 250-300 wicket. These types of pitches are dangerous for batters' physical health. Spinning pitches are dangerous to batters' reputation. It's not very easy for batters to play, little of the skill involved. It has to be an even covering of grass. Little bit of grass here, bare patches there. Thick bit of grass around the cracks, that's the problem. It's between 5 and a half and 7 and a half metres. I can't see this changing much."
SA vs IND, 2nd Test Day 2 Preview
India will look to take early wickets and keep the pressure on South Africa when they take the field on Day 2 of the second and final Test of the series at the Newlands, Cape Town.
The Proteas will resume their second innings still a fair distance behind India's score but they have Aiden Markram at the crease, who can take the game away from the opposition very quickly on his day.
Jasprit Bumrah: "Cricket is always surprising. When we saw the wicket in the morning, we didn't expect that it's going to be an action-packed day like how it was. It's always fun for a bowler that you are always in play, anything can happen anytime. If you bowled disciplined lines, there's a lot in the wicket. Interesting day of cricket. We have a lot of belief in our bowling line-up, but a lot of the bowlers are new. The discussion was about consistency and bowling in partnerships.
"We have to create pressure, you don't necessarily need to bowl magic deliveries now and then. You just have to do the basic things right again and again. We were very happy that we were able to do that in this game. I started from the other end, but we realised that there was little more help, unevenness and seam movement from the Wynberg end. Other end, there's not too much help. Still there's a lot of work to be done, I made my Test debut (here), so this ground will always be special in my heart. Since then, it's been a good journey. If we do our things right, the result will be in our favour."
