IND vs SA, 2nd Test, Day 4 Tea: Maharaj, Philander In Action Again, India Need 3 Wickets To Win

By the end of the second session, Vernon Philander (29) was batting along with Maharaj (17). The duo will resume the South African innings at 172/7

Once again Keshav Maharaj and Vernon Philander have come in South Africa’s rescue as they still trail by 154 runs with just 3 wickets in hand. After India imposed the follow-on, the Proteus batting surrendered against the Indian attack as they lost 7 of their batsmen until tea break on the fourth day of the ongoing second Test in Pune. By the end of the second session, Vernon Philander (29) was batting along with Maharaj (17). The duo will resume the South African innings at 172/7. Ravindra Jadeja remained the wrecker-in-chief after the lunch break as he spun a web around the South Africa batters. Quinton de Kock (5) was the first to depart after the first session, trying to slog-sweep Jadeja and losing his stumps in the process. Ajinkya Rahane then pulled off a stunning catch to remove Bavuma (38) off Jadeja while Senuran Muthusamy (9) was removed by Mohammed Shami, Rohit Sharma taking a catch at second slip. Earlier, Ashwin took two wickets as India reduced South Africa to 74/4 at lunch. The session though belonged to India stumper Wriddhiman Saha's brilliance behind the stumps as the 34-year old took a stunning one-handed diving catch off Umesh Yadav's delivery to dismiss Theunis De Bruyn (8) in the sixth over of the innings. Saha's effort left all his teammates amused as skipper Virat Kohli came running to congratulate the diminutive wicketkeeper whom he hailed as the best in the world a few days back. The Proteas were eventually bowled out for 275, still, 326 runs behind India's mammoth first innings score of 601/5d. Brief scores: 1st innings: India 601/5d; South Africa 275; 2nd innings: 172/7 (Dean Elgar 48, Temba Bavuma 38; R Ashwin 2/45, Ravindra Jadeja 2/47)