IN a game of twists and turns, South Africa put themselves in pole position to clinch the Test series against India after an all-round display on day 3 in Cape Town.

The home side staged a spirited comeback with the ball in the second session to keep the target to 212, despite Rishabh Pant’s fine hundred. Dean Elgar and Keegan Petersen then knocked off nearly half the runs before stumps as they ended the day’s play at 101-2.

India didn’t have the greatest of starts to the day as Cheteshwar Pujara found himself walking back to the pavilion after just two deliveries as Petersen took an outstanding catch at leg gully.

In the very next over, Kagiso Rabada accounted for Ajinkya Rahane with a delivery that just took off after pitching outside off.

The two early wickets once again put the onus on Virat Kohli to resurrect the innings. And this time, he had a determined Pant at the other end as well. While Pant counterattacked, Kohli was content batting out time like he did in the first innings. The pair guided India to a comfortable position by lunch as the lead stretched to 143. However, India lost their grip on the game post lunch as Lungi Ngidi, a silent spectator in the Test until that point, ripped through the middle order.

Kohli, who displayed a lot of restraint until then, finally chased a delivery outside off to edge behind and the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur endured the same fate against the pacer. The triple strike pretty much ended India’s hopes of setting a target over 260 and Pant was the only recognised batter left.

The 24-year-old looked to farm the strike on most occasions while batting with the tail and also played some extravagant shots in the process to bring up a well-deserved Test century.

Having come under a lot of criticism post the second Test, Pant responded in style with a fighting knock that took the lead past the 200-run mark. Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah couldn’t last long though as Marco Jansen continued with his impressive showing to mop the tail and finish with a four-wicket haul.

It took South Africa little time to bring the target below 200 as Aiden Markram fetched a few boundaries to begin with. On a couple of occasions, India’s new-ball bowlers did manage to find the outside edge but it evaded the slip cordon and reached the boundary to add to the visitors’ frustration.

Eventually, one such edge did find the fielder at slip as Markram was sent back by Shami. But what followed was a period of frustration for the Indians as a dogged Elgar and a free-flowing Petersen put on a big partnership.

To add insult to injury, India thought they had Elgar when Ashwin trapped him leg-before-wicket but the South African skipper managed to overturn the decision by taking the review, much to India’s shock.

Post that incident, the runs also started flowing as Petersen milked the bowling attack finding the boundary seven times. Elgar, on the other hand, continued his defiance but against the run of play, he finally fell to Bumrah.

A poor delivery bowled down the leg side was edged to the keeper by Elgar and India had to take the review to get the decision in their favour – much to Kohli’s delight, who wore a frustrated look ever since the lbw call a few overs earlier. But with only 111 more runs to get and with eight wickets in hand, South Africa remain favourites to get the job done today. (Cricbuzz.com)

INDIA 1st innings 223
SOUTH AFRICA 1st innings
Dean Elgar c Cheteshwar Pujara b Jasprit Bumrah 3
Aiden Markram b Jasprit Bumrah 8
Keshav Maharaj b Umesh Yadav 25
Keegan Petersen c Cheteshwar Pujara b Jasprit Bumrah 72
Rassie van der Dussen c Virat Kohli b Umesh Yadav 21
Temba Bavuma c Virat Kohli b Mohammed Shami 28
Kyle Verreynne c Rishabh Pant b Mohammed Shami 0
Marco Jansen b Jasprit Bumrah 7
Kagiso Rabada c Jasprit Bumrah b Shardul Thakur 15
Duanne Olivier not out 10
Lungi Ngidi c Ravichandran Ashwin b Jasprit Bumrah 3
Extras: (b-4, lb-4, nb-4, pen-5, w-1) 18
Total: (all out, 76.3 overs) 210
Fall of wickets: 1-10, 2-17, 3-45, 4-112, 5-159, 6-159, 7-176, 8-179, 9-200.
Bowling: Jasprit Bumrah 23.3-8-2-5 (nb-2), Umesh Yadav 16-3-64-2 (w-1 nb-1), Mohammed Shami 16-4-39-2, Shardul Thakur 12-2-37-1, Ravichandran Ashwin 9-3-15-0 (nb-1).
INDIA 2nd innings
Lokesh Rahul c Aiden Markram b Marco Jansen 10
Mayank Agarwal c Dean Elgar b Kagiso Rabada 7
Cheteshwar Pujara c Keegan Petersen b Marco Jansen 9
Virat Kohli c Aiden Markram b Lungi Ngidi 29
Ajinkya Rahane c Dean Elgar b Kagiso Rabada 1
Rishabh Pant not out 100
Ravichandran Ashwin c Marco Jansen b Lungi Ngidi 7
Shardul Thakur c Kyle Verreynne b Lungi Ngidi 5
Umesh Yadav c Kyle Verreynne b Kagiso Rabada 0
Mohammed Shami c Rassie van der Dussen b Marco Jansen 0
Jasprit Bumrah c Temba Bavuma b Marco Jansen 2
Extras: (b-8, lb-8, nb-9, w-2) 28
Total: (all out, 67.3 overs) 198
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-24, 3-57, 4-58, 5-152, 6-162, 7-170, 8-180, 9-189.
Bowling: Kagiso Rabada 17-5-53-3 (w-1, nb-8), Duanne Olivier 10-1-38-0 (nb-1), Marco Jansen 19.3-6-36-4 (w-1) Lungi Ngidi 14-5-21-3, Keshav Maharaj 7-1-33-0
SOUTH AFRICA 2nd innings
Aiden Markram c Lokesh Rahul b Mohammed Shami 16
Dean Elgar c Rishabh Pant b Jasprit Bumrah 30
Keegan Petersen not out 48
Extras: (lb-6, nb-1) 7
Total: (two wkts, 29.4 overs) 101-2
Fall of wickets: 1-23, 2-101.
Bowling: Jasprit Bumrah 9.4-3-29-1, Mohammed Shami 7-0-22-1, Umesh Yadav 2-0-5-0 (nb-1), Shardul Thakur 5-1-17-0, Ravichandran Ashwin 6-1-22-0.