By the end of Day1, South Africa’s batting coach Dale Benkenstein looked pretty relaxed despite the early destruction done by India medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar had triggered by reducing the hosts to 12 for 3.

With Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram and Hashim Alma all back in the dressing room, the hosts were is all sorts of trouble after winning the toss and electing to bat in the first Test at Newlands. Talking about the same, the coach said, “Luckily our phones get taken away otherwise I was getting an Uber and leaving for the hotel at 12/3. They are quality bowling attack. At that stage, I was sitting there and wondering how we are going to score runs on this wicket.”

He further elaborated, “I just think that class and genius of AB and tenacity of captain (Faf du Plessis), that partnership, even that just one over (when de Villiers slammed Bhuvneshwar for four fours) changed the game. (It) made the bowlers worry about their lengths and that partnership of 100 runs got us back in the game and brought belief back in the change room but at 12/3 not a great feeling as batting coach.”

However, the 114-run stand between De Villiers and Du Plessis helped the Proteas to recover and lower order contributions propped the total to 286. The rate at which South Africa was scoring runs despite India striking early was a worry for the bowlers.