India stare at defeat as South Africa roll over top order in Centurion

South African pacers struck early to reduce the visitors to 35/3 at the end of fourth day’s play at the Supersports Park in Centurion on Tuesday.

New Delhi: South African pacers struck early to reduce the visitors to 35/3 at the end of fourth day’s play at the Supersports Park in Centurion on Tuesday.

Chasing a tricky 287 runs, Indian top order once again struggled against the top quality pace bowling attack. India lost Murali Vijay (9), KL Rahul (4) and Virat Kohli (5) before the umpires took off the bails.

Lungi Ngidi struck twice while Kagiso Rabada claimed one to put South Africa in course of series win.

Cheteshwar Pujara (11) and Parthiv Patel (5) were batting for the visitors at the end of day’s play.

India will have a mountain to climb when they take the field on the final day of Test match tomorrow as they will still need 252 more runs to win and level the series 1-1.

South Africa are 1-0 up in series after their 72-run win in Cape Town in the series opener.

If India go down to South Africa in Centurion it will also mark an end to their 9 consecutive series winning streak.

Earlier, India bundled South Africa for 258 runs, setting themselves a target of 287.

Faf du Plessis’ steady 48-run knock and de Villiers-Elgar’s 141-run stand for the fourth wicket helped the hosts post a defendable total.

For India, Shami returned with 4 for 49 while Ishant Sharma added three to his name.