Centurion, Jan 15: Virat Kohli kept India alive in the second Test with a masterful hundred before AB de Villiers turned the tide in South Africa’s favour on an eventful third day, affected by rain and bad light.
De Villiers scored his 42nd half-century as South Africa reached 90 for two at stumps in their second innings, overcoming a disastrous start to lead India by 118 runs.
Only 10 overs were possible in the final session as rain and bad light hampered play.
At the close, de Villiers was unbeaten on 50 runs (78 balls, 6 fours) while Dean Elgar was batting on 36 not out (78 balls, 4 fours). They added 87 runs for the third wicket, with South Africa’s overall lead at 118 runs.
Post tea, play only got underway for 20 minutes before a thunderstorm washed away nearly an hour. At resumption of play, Indian skipper had been clearly unhappy with the wet ground and how it affected the ball as well.
No overs were lost though and when play resumed the session had been extended an hour past local time to end at 6.30pm local time. However, only 5.1 overs were possible on resumption as the umpires stopped play for bad light.
A lot happened in that passage of play though. Parthiv Patel missed a simple chance from Elgar (on 29) who edged behind off Jasprit Bumrah (2-30) in the 25th over.
The wicketkeeper kept watching as the ball sailed in the gap and away for four, expecting Cheteshwar Pujara at first slip to go for it.
De Villiers then reached his half-century off 78 balls, just before the second stoppage in this session. The umpires waited nearly 66 minutes before calling off play due to poor light.
Earlier, Bumrah reduced South Africa to 60 for two at tea, bowling a wonderful spell with the new ball even as the Supersport Park pitch started keeping low.
He accounted for both Aiden Markram (1) and Hashim Amla (1) in the space of three overs as South Africa were reduced to three for two in the 6th over.
Ravichandran Ashwin (0-33) had opened the bowling while Ishant Sharma (0-14) came in as first change.
This was after Virat Kohli scored 153 runs (217 balls, 15 fours) to guide India’s first innings. Post lunch, he tried to shield Ishant Sharma (3) and their partnership for the ninth wicket lasted nearly nine overs during which they put up 25 runs. (PTI)
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