Dubious pitch holds up India’s push for win vs South Africa at Johannesburg

Match officials stopped play in the third Test between South Africa and India at Johannesburg and had discussions with captain and coaches of both the teams after Dean Elgar took a nasty blow on the grill of his helmet. (BCCI )

Updated on: Jan 26, 2018 10:04 PM IST

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Match officials stopped play in the third Test between South Africa and India at Johannesburg and had discussions with captain and coaches of both the teams after Dean Elgar took a nasty blow on the grill of his helmet. (BCCI )

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Resuming at 49/1, KL Rahul (16) fell to Vernon Philander in the second over of the day. (BCCI )

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Morne Morkel joined the party as he got rid of Cheteshwar Pujara (1) to leave India struggling at 57/3. (BCCI )

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Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli then steadied India’s ship and punished almost all loose balls. (BCCI )

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Kohli was in supreme touch and looked set to get a big score. (BCCI )

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But Kagiso Rabada halted India’s momentum as he removed Vijay (25) on the second last ball before lunch. (BCCI )

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Soon, Rabada got the wicket of Kohli (41) to leave India in all sorts of trouble. (BCCI )

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Ajinkya Rahane (48), not picked for the first two Tests of the series, played some sublime shots in difficult conditions. (BCCI )

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With the batsmen unable to trust the bounce, the umpires had a chat about the same a couple of times. (BCCI )

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Bhuvneshwar Kumar (33) played sensibly and took India’s lead past 200. (BCCI )

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Mohammed Shami played a quickfire 27-run knock before being dismissed by Lungi Ngidi. India were all out for 247, setting South Africa a target of 241. (BCCI )

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In reply, Aiden Markram (4) failed for the second time in the Test when he edged a rising ball from Mohammed Shami to wicketkeeper Partiv Patel to give India an early breakthrough. (BCCI )

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Elgar was struck late in the afternoon by a sharply lifting delivery from Jasprit Bumrah, which stopped play. (BCCI )

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Match referee Andy Pycroft joined the umpires on the field and play was called off. (BCCI )

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Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis then headed to the referee’s room for a discussion. Final decision regarding the future of the match will be decided Saturday morning. (BCCI )