Indian bowlers put South Africa on mat

India bowlers led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar continued to get breakthroughs despite attacking batting from South Africa as the hosts were reduced to 230 for 7 at tea on the opening day of the first cricket Test.

Cape Town: India bowlers led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar continued to get breakthroughs despite attacking batting from South Africa as the hosts were reduced to 230 for 7 at tea on the opening day of the first cricket Test.

Debutant Jasprit Bumrah (1/60 in 13 overs) and young Hardik Pandya (1/37 in 9 overs) removed the dangerous pair of AB de Villiers (65) and skipper Faf du Plessis (62) in quick succession after their whirlwind 114-run stand to give the visitors an upperhand after the second session.

The dangerous Quinton de Kock (43) was removed by Bhuvneshwar (4/68 in 14 overs) and the Proteas looked uncomfortable despite maintaining a healthy run-rate of 4.33 across the 53 overs that has been bowled over two sessions.

Keshav Maharaj was unbeaten on 23 runs alongside Kagiso Rabada (0 not out) at the break.

Post lunch, De Villiers and Du Plessis brought up their 100-partnership for the fourth wicket off 134 balls.

Bumrah got his maiden scalp in De Villiers as he angled one in which breached the defence of the former skipper after taking an inside edge of his bat.

Three overs later, Pandya made it a double breakthrough as Du Plessis was caught behind. It was payback for the all- rounder, who had trapped the batsman lbw off the previous delivery, only for DRS to overturn the decision on umpire's call.

In between, Du Plessis had completed his 16th Test half- century off 98 balls.

De Kock and Vernon Philander (23) continued with the attacking mode and put on 60 runs off only 54 balls for the sixth wicket .

In doing so, they helped South Africa cross 200 in the 45th over.

Bhuvneshwar returned for his third spell and immediately struck again getting De Kock caught behind.

Before tea, Mohammed Shami (1-43) bowled Philander with a delivery that reversed.

The hosts could have lost another wicket but Shikhar Dhawan dropped Keshav Maharaj (on 0 then) at third slip in the 47th over over of what could have been Bhuvneshwar's fifth scalp.

Bhuvneshwar got India off to a rollicking start as he took three wickets in his first three overs.

He had Dean Elgar (0) caught behind off the third ball of the match. An over later, he trapped Aiden Markram (5) lbw with a sharp inswinger.

The ever-dependable Hashim Amla (3) too was caught behind off the Meerut speedster as his first spell figures read 3-1- 5-3.

De Villiers then led South Africa's recovery as the duo batted out the remainder of the challenging first hour. They looked to counter attack the bowling with the former taking 17 runs off one Bhuvneshwar over.

In doing so, they brought up the 50-partnership for the 4th wicket off only 63 balls.

There was a chance from Du Plessis off Shami in the 17^th over but it bounced just short of skipper Virat Kohli at second slip.

Debutant Bumrah, who was preferred over seasoned Ishant Sharma, came on as first change and purchased awkward bounce at times off the pitch.

He troubled both batsmen in his first spell but was unable to make the breakthrough that India desired.

Thereafter, De Villiers brought up his 41st Test half- century off only 55 balls, inclusive of 10 fours. The milestone came off a cut shot off Shami's bowling.

This helped the run-rate as well, crossing  four-runs per over mark in the last 30 minutes of the first session.

Bhuvneshwar came back from another spell towards the end of the session, but he was not able to separate the two batsmen. Hardik Pandya (0-1) bowled an over before lunch as South Africa crossed 100 in the 26th over.