On Saturday, Indian batsmen had a tough day as the visitors were bowled out for 209 on Day 2. Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara had the job on themselves to rescue the side at teh start of the day, But while Sharma got out in the first session at a meager score of 11, his partner departed in the first over after Lunch.

Speaking on his dismissal at the press conference, Pujara agreed he made a mistake, he said, “To be honest, I should have left the ball (after Tea) alone. It was outside the off-stump. I made a mistake and got out. It deviated a little more than what I expected but at the same time I made the mistake and I had to pay the price for it. This is one of the best attacks obviously. All of their bowlers have always done well, especially in South Africa. They know which areas to bowl in.”

He further added, “When I bat, I don’t look at the bowler and the bowling line-up, I try and look at the ball, try and keep it simple. As a batsman, I would want to concentrate on what I would like to do rather than thinking whether they have the best bowlers in the world. It hardly matters if you score runs.”

Pujara also showered praises for all-rounder Hardik Pandya who scored a brisk 93 runs to take save India some embarrassment after they were reeling at 93/7. He said, “Everyone believed he (Pandya) can play such an innings and he played his shots and the environment in the dressing room became quite positive. Those runs were very important for the team and they kept us in the game.”

India managed to reach 209 on the back of Pandya’s innings. He also picked two wickets later in the day and sent both South African openers back to the pavilion. Proteas reached 65/2 at stumps, leading India by 142 runs and the next day was washed out by rain.