India bowled beautifully to reduce South Africa to 176/7 by the time Tea was taken on Day 2 of the second Test match in Cape Town. But the session saw high-voltage action, among them was five penalty runs being awarded to South Africa. In a bizarre incident, the ball ricocheted off Cheteshwar Pujara and struck the helmet which was lying idle. All of this happened after the catcher couldn’t hold onto an easy catch off Temba Bavuma. According to ICC rules, the fielding team gets five penalty runs for such a ‘mistake.’ It was unarguably frustrating for the captain, who was at this point, looking for wickets.
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A strong stand between Keegan Petersen and Temba Bavuma had made sure that India will have to bowl out of their skins to stop South Africa as they had managed a below-par 223 in the first innings. When the session resumed, the pair of Petersen and Rassie van der Dussen took the South African innings forward before Umesh Yadav provided the much needed breakthrough to break their partnership on 67. Umesh struck to remove Van der Dussen on 21.
However, Temba Bavuma then joined hands with Petersen who had already completed his half-century. The pair added 47 runs for the fifth wicket with the hosts looking control when Mohammed Shami struck twice in the space of three deliveries to dent their progress.
Shami first combined with his captain Virat Kohli who took an excellent diving catch to dislodge Bavuma on 28. And then new batter Kyle Verreyne nicked his second delivery with wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant diving to send him back for a duck.
In the last over before tea, Jasprit Bumrah took his third wicket of the innings when he cleaned up Marco Jansen on 7 with the tourists finishing the session on a high.
Earlier, India started the day with a bang when Bumrah cleaned up opener Aiden Markram with the second delivery of the morning session. Umesh then dismissed nightwatchman Keshav Maharaj on 25 before Petersen and Van der Dussen rebuild the innings and took the score to 100/3 at lunch.
India were bowled out for 223 in their first innings after opting to bat first in the series-decider on Tuesday.
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