An eventful day comes to an end in the first India vs South Africa Test match, being played in Kolkata at the historic Eden Gardens.
India started off on 37-1, trailing the visitor’s first innings score of 159. Much like the proceedings on Day 1, the bowlers enjoyed much purchase off the surface.
The home side were bowled out on a slim lead, however, their own arsenal was too much to handle for the Proteas, particularly Ravindra Jadeja, as they are now reeling at 93-7 at Stumps on Day 2.
No Big Scores From Indian Batsmen
With just one wicket down and two set batsmen from the previous day on the crease, the Shubman Gill-led side appeared to be in a good position to post a big score.
However, the Kolkata wicket has not been easy to bat on, and that showed with how the run-scoring almost came to a halt.
That was until Rishabh Pant arrived in the middle, who batted smartly, displaying a combination of solid defense and calcuated risk-taking, scoring a fighting 27.
Ravindra Jadeja also scored 27 on this difficult surface, which further added to India’s cause. Once they were gone though, a lower-order collapse saw the innings come to an end with a lead of just 30 runs.
The highest individual score came from KL Rahul, 39, who had been batting from Day 1.
It is also worth noting that Shubman Gill was retired hurt on 4 runs, suffering a neck spasm, and did not take to the field again today.
Jadeja’s Spin Web Traps Proteas
Rishabh Pant acted as the stand-in captain in Gill’s absence, and he unleashed Jadeja early on to the South African batting unit.
The result? A four-wicket haul well under 10 overs for the veteran all-rounder.
Adding to the troubles was also the Delhi Capitals duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, who picked two and one wicket, respectively.
With South Africa now 7 wickets down and a lead of just 63 runs on the board, it would be safe to say that a Day 3 finish is well on the cards.
