INDIA V/S SOUTH AFRICA, 1ST TEST DAY 1 UPDATES

That was yet another extraordinary day of world-class cricket. It was a sort of bowling dominated day. India did a very good job with the bowl but the batting performance was not that great. Similar is the condition of the South-African team. The batting was par and the bowling was great.

As the day goes, the first and the second session was well dominated by the Indians with the bowl. Bhuvneshwar Kumar did a splendid start with the bowl by rattling the African openers very cheap. Dean Elgar was dismissed for a duck and Markam was dismissed for a mere 5 runs. Hashim Amla was also dismissed for 3 of 10 balls and the African scoreboard stood at 12 for 3. After a shocking start the African stabilised a lasting partnership between AB De Villiers and Faf Du Plessis which took them to 126 and then De Villiers was clean bowled by Bumrah on 65(84). AB De Villiers played great counter-attacking cricket and gave a steady platform for the Africans. Du Plessis also was dismissed for 62 and the African scoreboard stood at 142-5. Quinton De Kock also made a valuable 43 of 40 which consisted of some really good cricketing shots. He was playing quite well but was dismissed by Bhuvneshwar caught by Saha. Saha was particularly good in his job of wicket-keeping and we saw some great saves by Saha. The wicket was bouncy and fast. Philander also gave well played 23 to them and was bowled by Shami. Maharaj did well to to support his team but was run-out by Ashwin at 35. Rabada also kept the scoreboard ticking with his deserving 26 and was finally dismissed by Ashwin while playing the cut shot. The last wicket fell with Morne Morkel at 2 who was lbw by Ashwin. Steyn remained un-dismissed at 16 of 31 bowls. The 1st innings score of South Africa was 286 all out.

The bowling figures were----------------

ASHWIN 7.1-1-21-1

BUMRAH 19-1-73-1

SHAMI 16-6-47-1

BHUVI 19-4-87-4

PANDYA 12-1-53-1

The Indian 1st innings was also no short of a disaster with Murali Vijay falling cheaply bowled by Philander and caught at gully by Elgar at 1 of 17 bowls. Shikhar Dhawan was looking in great touch out there but was dismissed by playing a poor cricketing shot caught and bowled by Steyn. Steyn kept the bowl short of length and Dhawan with an attempt to play the pull-shot, mistimed it and the ball raised high above and was caught by Steyn at 16 of 33 deliveries. Morne Morkel stroke with his first delivery dismissing Captain Fearless, KOHLI cheaply at 5 of 13 deliveries. Rohit and Pujara are batting at 0(5) and 5(18) respectively. At the end of the day, India finished at 28-3 which was a pretty ordinary effort. Stay tuned for updates of the 2nd day of the 1st Test of India tour of South Africa.

STEYN 4-1-13-1

MORKEL 2-2-0-1

RABADA 1-0-1-0

PHILANDER 4-1-13-1

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