India ended day two battling with the bat as the Indian batsmen failed to apply themselves on a pitch that is good for batting.
South Africa began the second day with both Du Plessis and Maharaj pushing forward towards 300 from 269/6. Maharaj was dismissed for 18 by Mohammed Shami, who picked a lone wicket in this innings. Rabada made 11 after being dropped twice in two balls. He was removed by Ishant Sharma. Du Plessis took South Africa past 300 and was out for 63, hitting 9 fours. He was castled by Ishant Sharma, going for quick runs and Ashwin took care of Morkel, as South Africa was bowled out for 335.
R Ashwin took 4/113 and Ishant Sharma picked 3/46, on a pitch that assisted with a bit of bounce and spin.
India needed to built on a good foundation and were hoping that KL Rahul and M Vijay would provide that. However, Rahul fell for 10, after Morkel got him caught and bowled. Pujara was run out first ball and Rohit Sharma fell for 10, LBW to Rabada.
Parthiv Patel stuck around a bit, for his 19, hitting 3 fours. However, it was the turn of under fire skipper Virat Kohli to show how to bat on this surface. He and Vijay (46) added 79 runs for 3rd wicket and were looking extremely positive. However, Vijay edged one to De Kock off Maharaj to end the fine partnership.
Virat Kohli batted like a man possessed against a potent South African attack. He showed that there were no demons in the pitch and it was a failure of Indian batting who failed to apply themselves. Kohli hit 8 fours in his innings and remained not out for 85 runs
Hardik Pandya also remained not out with Kohli and he played his shots in the short duration he was out there. He looked comfortable against the short stuff bowled to him.
BRIEF SCORES:
SOUTH AFRICA 335 (A MARKRAM 94, H AMLA 82, F DU PLESSIS 63; R ASHWIN 4/113, I SHARMA 3/46)
INDIA 183/5 (V KOHLI 85*, M VIJAY 46; L NGIDI 1/26)
Day 2: India trail by 152 runs with 5 wickets remaining
