After India dominated the first day, scoring 202 without loss rain caused an early abandonment of play, proceedings got underway on time on the second morning in Visakhaptatnam on Thursday, with Rohit Sharma 115 not out, and Mayank Agarwal undefeated on 80.
And the pair continued to score freely, with Agarwal reaching his first century in test cricket, and Sharma passing the 150 mark. The pair added a further 115 to the overnight score when the partnership was finally broken, when Rohit was stumped by Quinton de Kock off the bowling of Keshav Maharaj for 176. He had struck 6 sixes and 23 fours, and had fallen one run short of his previous best in test cricket.
And, as so often happens, having waited such a long time for a wicket to fall, a second dismissal happened almost immediately, Cheteshwar Pujara clean-bowled by Vernon Philander for just 6. Agarwal and Virat Kohli put on 53 for the third wicket, but then South Africa captured the prize wicket of Kohli for 20, caught and bowled by Senuran Muthusamy.
Agarwal reached his double hundred, this time in the company of Ajinkya Rahane, before two wickets fell in quick order. Firstly, Rahane was caught by Temba Bavuma off the bowling of Maharaj for 15, and then Agarwals’s long vigil at the crease ended when he had reached 215, caught by Dane Piedt off the occasional bowling of Dean Elgar. He had spent more than 8 hours at the crease, and struck 6 sixes and 23 fours in his innings.
His departure slowed the momentum of the Indian innings somewhat, although they remained well in control of the match. Hanuma Vihari was the next man to fall, caught by Elgar off the bowling of Maharaj, and, after Ravindra Jadeja and Wriddiham Saha had shared a stand of 37 for the seventh wicket, Saha was dismissed for 21, caught by Muthusamy off the bowling of Piedt.
Soon afterwards, having passed the 500 mark, India declared on 502 – 7 with Jadeja unbeaten on 30.
None of the South African bowlers will be in a hurry to look their figures up in the record books. Maharaj was the most successful in terms of wickets, taking three, but they came at the cost of 189 runs.
After spending the best part of two days in the field, South Africa finally began their reply with Elgar and Aiden Markram at the crease, but they were soon in deep trouble. First, Markram was bowled by Ravichandran Ashwin for 5, and then Theunis de Bruyn was caught behind by the same bowler. And then Dane Piedt was bowled by Jadeja for a duck, leaving them 39 for 3 overnight, trailing by a massive 463 runs, with 7 wickets remaining.
It already looks like a massive ask for the visitors to save the match from here.
