Live Scorecard, India vs South Africa 2nd Test, Centurion
That's it from Day 1
India have managed to fight their way back into the game in the last session, in which 37 overs were bowled, 87 runs were scored and 4 wickets were taken.
Philander walks back
South Africa lose 3 wickets for just 5 runs. Another runout, Vernon Philander is watching the ball as he continues to run. Both the batsmen left stranded at the non-striker's end. Parthiv Patel collects the ball and throws back to Pandya who takes off the bails. SA 251/6
Kock goes for a duck
Suddenly the visitors are back in the game. R Ashwin gets de Kock caught in the slips for a duck. SA 250/5
RUN-OUT
Pandya delivers a bouncer, Amla plays it well but de Villiers on the other end calls for a quick run, Amla obeys and runs towards the non-striker's end. Pandya shows great athleticism and scores a direct hit. SA 250/4
Hashim Amla inching closer towards his 29th Test hundred
36th Test fifty for Amla
Hashim Amla drives one through the covers to collect four runs. That also brings up his 36th fifty in the longest format. SA 208/3
Ishant gets his man
Unlucky de Villiers gets an inside edge and ball knock off the bails. Ishant Sharma finally makes his mark. SA 199/3
End of session 2....
Despite losing Aiden Markram on 94, the hosts look comfortable at 182/2. However, the visitors will have something to cheer after sending the South African openers back in the second session.
De Villiers is the next man in
Markram misses out on century
Aiden Markram misses century by a whisker (94). Ashwin floats one outside the off, Markram looks to defend and misjudges completely, the ball takes an outside edge. Parthiv Patel makes no mistake this time. SA 152/2
DROPPED!
A tough chance but Hardik Pandya makes an excellent effort, Amla survives.
Amla walks in to bat
Ashwin draws the first blood!
India's ace spinner comes up with much-needed breakthrough, gets him caught at the silly point. Vijay keeps his eyes on the ball and completes the catch in the second attempt. SA 85/1
Welcome back!
Aiden Markram and Dean Elgar are back in the middle for the hosts, Ashwin to start for India.
Lunch, Day 1
The bails are off, Elgar and Markram have a big smile on their faces and why wouldn't they have it. It has been South Africa's session by all means. Won the toss, opted to bat and they are going into lunch without loss. India have a lot of thinking to do when they come out after lunch. SA: 78/0
Markram's parents celebrating his special moment
Time for Markram to raise his bat
50 for Markram! Take a bow young man. He has had a great start to his career, did not get amongst the runs in the first Test but has made the most of it in the second. A superb innings. SA: 72/0
Review goes up in smoke
Oh no no no! Kohli and Ashiwn's excitement got everyone hopeful but replayed conveyed there was no edge, in fact there snicko did not even detect a sound. Dean Elgar survives. A classic off-spinner's delivfery from Ashiwn. Pitches around off and turns slightly away to beat Elgar completely.
50 up for South Africa
50 up! Markram and Elgar looked solid even in the secind innings of the Cape Town Test and now they are carrying on with the form. Ominous signs for India.
Three maidens
Right then, you get no prizes to guess who is the most imporved Indian cricketer in recent times. Hardik Pandya starts off Centurion Test in brilliantly. Runs in and bowls a hat-trick of maidens. He has looked the best Indian bowler along with Ishant Sharma.
Solid Start
Solid. Concrete. Say it whatever you want, they all the mean the same. Both Dean Elgar and Aiden Markram have largely looked untroubled. Kohli has thrown all the three seamers at them but both the openers have been unphazed. The pitch is surely not as the one we saw in Newlands. There is no lateral movement, no swing in the air. Early signs that it will be long day for the India
Jasprit Bumrah has the new ball, wow will the surprises ever cease in this series? You have an 80-Test match veteran in Ishant, a very fiesty semer in Shami but Kohli asks Bumrah to start the proceedings.
Dean Elgar Aiden Markram have the job to see off the new ball, the pitch doesn't look that menacing to be honest. But looks can be deceiving.
South Africa (Playing XI): Dean Elgar, Aiden Markram, Hashim Amla, AB de Villiers, Faf du Plessis(c), Quinton de Kock(w), Vernon Philander, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungisani Ngidi, Morne Morkel
India (Playing XI): Murali Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli(c), Rohit Sharma, Parthiv Patel(w), Hardik Pandya, Ravichandran Ashwin, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Ishant Sharma
Team News: Saha out with a hamstring injury, so Parthiv Patel comes in. KL Rahul replaces Shikhar Dhawan and guess what Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the man who claimed six wickets in first Test has been dropped. He makes way for Ishant Sharma.
Virat Kohli says he would have batted first also. Is surprised to see a very dry surface on offer. Aims to extract confidence from their bowling performance from the first game. Reckons that they would look to extract whatever is on offer in the initial hour.
TOSS: South Africa wins the toss and opts to bat first. Lungisani Ngidi makes his Test debut.
Hello and welcome to the live coverage of the 2nd Test match between India and South Africa at Centurion.
Preview
Centurion is a graveyard for all the touring sides. South Africa has a 17/2 win/loss ratio, if that was not daunting enough, all the Aisan sides playing here have lost their last match by an innings, including India.
So, the stage is set for the series to be decided and SuperSport Park promises a superb enocunter. Indian batsmen were peppered with short stuff in the first Test at Newlands and don't be suprised if the same script is repeated in the second Test.
Lot of talks about the playing XI of India. Parthiv for Saha? Rahul for Dhawan? Rahane for Rohit? or Both? Ishant for Bhuvi? If at all these changes take place, then it would certainly go against Indian captain Kohli's thoughts of 'nothing to panic' yet.