The second Test between South Africa and India kicked off on a same note as hosts won the toss and again opted to bat on a rather brownish wicket. India made three changes, one of them was out of the box, as Parthiv Patel replaced injured Wriddhiman Saha while KL Rahul made most likely replacement with Shikhar Dhawan but the selection of Ishant Sharma over Bhuvneshwar Kumar didn’t go down well to the experts.

African openers took their team to slower but steady start as they negotiated any horror of first session and sent Indian bowlers wicket-less to have lunch. But the soon Ravichandran Ashwin made merry with the wicket and add two wickets in his column. Aiden Markram scored a fluent 94, but couldn’t convert it into a hundred.

The last session of the day was rather dramatic in the last 10 overs as it put India into the contest again from nowhere. Hashim Amla was undone by Hardik Pandya’s accurate throw to catch him short and he ran out after getting well set on the pitch. This wicket opened the flood gates for India as Quinton de Kock fell for a golden duck to Ashwin, who was the star of the day for India.

The last wicket of the day came in form of a brain fade by Vernon Philander, who senses a run from nowhere and reached at Faf du Plessis’ end without seeing his response and ended being on the same end.

South Africa closed the day at 269/6 and failed to make a mammoth score in the first innings. They were at 246/3 at one point but threw this opportunity to give India to ray of hope.