Indian spin duo – Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja – heckled the South African top order as the Visakhapatnam track started turning by the end of second day’s play. The Proteas batters looked huffing and puffing in the third session as they posted 39/3 in 20 overs. Dean Elgar (27) and Temba Bavuma (2) were at the crease and the visitors are still trailing by 463 runs.

Earlier in the game, Indian captain Virat Kohli declared the innings at 502/7. It seemed like the idea was to try the spinners to assess the track. In return, Ashwin and Jadeja were spot on as they ended up picking up 2 and 1 wicket respectively.

The South African batsmen tried to unsettle the Indian spinners but didn't have much success. The Indian pacers also complemented the spinners well and kept the pressure going as Ishant Sharma and Mohammed Shami kept hitting the right areas to not allow the batsmen to free their arms.

Earlier in the morning session, it was all about the Indian openers carrying on from where they left on the opening day. Firstly, Rohit Sharma punished the opponents and then it was Mayank in the afternoon session who brought up his maiden double ton after the former’s dismissal.

While Rohit hit a magnificent 176 (23 boundaries and six sixes), Mayank finished on 215. The duo added 317 runs for the opening wicket, becoming the third Indian opening pair to stitch a 300-run partnership.

The only silver lining in the dark clouds for the visitors was the four wickets they managed to pick in the post-lunch session as the first two sessions were otherwise completely dominated by India.

Cheteshwar Pujara (6), Kohli (20) and Test deputy Ajinkya Rahane (15) missed out as Keshav Maharaj finished with figures of 3/189 to be the most successful bowler for the visitors.