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Big partnership in the context of the game. If they can add another 20-odd, the lead becomes noteworthy in a low scoring slug fest. As is Jansen showing he may well become a #7, while Keshav is playing with the poise of a man who has 3 Test 50s. Very organised. He probably has done himself a disservice, especially in a South African side both devoid of batsmen and obsessed with pace, in not working a little harder on his batting to be a #7.

And now Ashwin takes over from Bumrah. Virat preparing for the new ball! What is going on?

Shardul does for Rabada! South Africa 200-9.

Kohli bringing Bumrah back on to try and give him an opportunity to take that 5, but Olivier survives and in the process, edged a valuable boundary too. South Africa 17 away.

Ngidi somehow survived another over from Bumrah, where the 2 that he connected both just missed the fielder. SA continue to inch along. 14 away!

Deserved 5for for Jasprit Bumrah. And on the back of that outstanding performance, India take a 13 run lead! Search...

Top bowling from Bumrah. A lead of 200+ should be enough for India...but most including myself thought that in the last test, and South Africa ended up cruising to a 270-odd target!

159/4 to 210ao highlights the deep perils of this pitch. Think Rabada will like the conditions, which are bouncier, more than he did yesterday. 75 minutes or so for South Africa to knock off the Indian top order.

17 extras out of 57/2 in a low scoring game… not good.

If India bat two sessions they will be ahead in a competitive situation and if they bat 3 sessions they would have closed all doors and windows on SA

How we bowled today is how we should have bowled in 2nd inning of T2 and we bowled like we did because Ind had Kohli captaining, marshaling, motivating & kicking a,s,sses when needed
There was only one undisputed leader on the field...and he relishes these street fight situation

Hope he gets some more runs tomm .....that will give him confidence & questions regarding his place in the side as a batter are put aside

Match evenly poised. India will have to bat really really well in the 3rd innings. Just can't afford another collapse. The bowlers bailed them out in the first innings. But can't expect it all the time. The relative lack of batting quality, in demanding conditions against quality bowling lineups have produced 2 low-scoring innings. But given a target in front that is within range, and with lots of time on hand, the 4th innings won't be as much difficult.
Hope Kohli and Pujara can score big, and Ajinkya Rahane can be something other than a walking wicket.

It's good that SA are giving India a close series. I thought the hosts would be flattened.

Must say that I, too, thought India would bowl SA out in that fourth innings in the last Test. Perhaps it would have been a different story if Kohli had been captaining.

Good bowling, innovative placement of the leg slip and great flying catch
Good all around cricket......Pujara would have thought he has glanced it to fine leg for 4

Ball is jumping off a length.....Rahane could do nothing about the one that kicked up & caught his gloves.......Kohli got a similar ball..& was lucky to have deflected over cordon

66/4 . Going to need some runs from these two...

South Africa have lost their way, bowling the spinner before lunch because Rabada can't stop overstepping. They might be getting a bit desperate now, but one can bring the whole house dowh fairly swiftly.

Pant and Kohli sparing India a total capitulation. However, South Africa still ahead in the game, there is not much that can be expected of India's last 5 wickets...
Hope Ajinkya Rahane, if ever we see him in India whites, will now have to earn his place. Yes, he did get a good one. But we absolutely reached a point wherein there is no more rope that can be extended to someone who may have delivered 3 impact performances in the last 3 years...

I'm seeing this different to msp, but I am a neutral so it's easier to say, but I'd put India well ahead now. 200 will be tough, 250 I can't see being chased down at all

Yes, I think India are comfortably ahead at the moment. South Africa seem out of ideas v this partnership and, despite the debacle in the last test, any target over 200 India should be backing themselves to defend.

Pant getting hyper, launching Maharaj for back-to-back 6s. He should be careful, not to get carried away.

Ngidi removes an otherwise immovable Virat Kohli. The skipper made only 29, his slowest 29 that. But he was holding it all together so well so far. Elgar should be looking to bring KG or Jansen straight back on. Some fine catching from South Africa today, it has to be said.

Kohli would be disappointed, that it ended up being him who blinked in the end. Chasing one outside off, that he very well could have left alone. After such a stoic display.

Brilliant catch from Markram, treat to watch. Surprised that Kohli's iron discipline evaporated with India in control.

The new R Ashwin doesn't focus on getting the technical bit right, instead just back himself to play a few shots before he gets done. The Ashwin of 4 years ago, had far more trust in his defense.
Can't be too long for India.

Jansen on for Keshav. Will be interesting to see how Pant plays it from here. Hope he keeps his discipline, both Ashwin and Shardul should be trusted to do a job.

While Jansen and Rabada have walked with the wickets since the 2nd test, Lungi Ngidi has actually done a pretty good job throughout the series, not just in that first innings of the series, whenever South Africa got drifting, he did the job. And has kept it very tight as well. When Nortje returns, perhaps Olivier will have to sit out, as following his county stint, he has turned himself into a medium-fast bowler from an express quick.

Pant really is turning into Indias golden boy isnt he! Getting enough on the board now to make a very nervy chase for SA. Maybe not the most consistent batter but one of those who just seems to produce game changing innings under pressure.

Ngidi rather brought SA back into the game after lunch , eh ? Lead close to 200 now as Pant continues to play a lone hand...

Looks like another good finish coming up.

a very long cat and mouse game between SA-Pant & Indian Tail

Quite the innings this from Pant - he might not be the most consistent, and can obviously get out in frustrating ways at times...but he can really play some properly special knocks, and seemingly at crucial points of series too so far

Brainless Shami

Really dumb from Shami. Just let it go and hold one end up while Pant is still out there.

Once Kohli went the house really did come down. South Africa have relied on a game of patience and it has just about kept them in the test, with Ngidi the standout since lunch.

Pant's innings has been world-class, in very beneficial bowling conditions.

Gotta say that innings by Pant was pretty incredible.

Terrific century for Pant Kept his team in this game ; and if he can add a few more he might be making them favourites again...

can't understand why Bumrah took 2 off the second ball of the over
anyway SA need 212 and they have crossed 210 only once in 5 innings so far

Game is evenly poised

212 to win ...

SA have the memory of their previous successful chase to encourage them. Reckon this is 50/50

That's one of the all time knocks in Test history. 1-1 series, 58-4, and he scores 100 of the next 163 runs for his team when the next highest score is 29. If we lose to that, fair play, what can you even say .

212 required. Enough to pitch India as narrow favourites on a pitch which looks tougher than the last test.

Pant remarkable, South Africa will need a comparative effort from someone in their team to chase this. Quality spell of well-pitched bowling from Ngidi after lunch. Kohli's contribution mustn't be understated, Pant's effort doesn't happen without it, but losing his concentration when he did ceded the initiative back to South Africa.

Pitch definitely looks tougher, but while 200 has generally not been chased at Newlands, it should be noted that until three or four years ago, Newlands was not a fourth innings halfway through day 3 track. This pitch is not as worn as pitches in Newlands generally have been when the fourth innings has traditionally started.

I make India the favourites purely because South Africa literally does not have a middle order

SA going about it the same way as they did in the last test. And I have a feeling, again India have fallen short.

kingraf wrote:

I make India the favourites purely because South Africa literally does not have a middle order

I know Bavuma has the sort of test record that would get him a place in Englands top 3 but isn't the keeper supposed to be pretty good with the bat? Its certainly quite a tail ..and only 2 players with an average over the low 30's doesn't suggest they are exactly brimming with proven test class in the batting department top middle or bottom.

Decent start by the top 3, but the onus really is on them to delay any collapse as long as possible. India by no means out of this in spite of msps misgivings.

Think the keeper averages about 50 in FC cricket with the bat. Sounds good but then you look at the highest averaging players in FC cricket in England it's names like Burns, Sibley and Pope. Hmmm

Gooseberry wrote:

kingraf wrote:

I make India the favourites purely because South Africa literally does not have a middle order

I know Bavuma has the sort of test record that would get him a place in Englands top 3 but isn't the keeper supposed to be pretty good with the bat? Its certainly quite a tail ..and only 2 players with an average over the low 30's doesn't suggest they are exactly brimming with proven test class in the batting department top middle or bottom.

Decent start by the top 3, but the onus really is on them to delay any collapse as long as possible. India by no means out of this in spite of msps misgivings.

I think being fair, South African batsmen play on pitches that are either foreign, or at home on the the sort where the #1 team in the world can only make it to the second new ball once in six innings, so the averages are a touch misleading.

Peter Handscomb averages 39, and Australia have never selected again since the 2017-18 Ashes. They went with Wade, Harris, Bancroft etc, all sub par Test bats. And the reason, I think, is because not only did Handscomb not get runs that Ashes, but he really did have some of the ugliest dismissals committed to tape ever. Cricket selectors, especially in Tests haven't quite fallen into the analytics River that has overtaken all of sport, so the eye test is still huge. I say that to say Verreynne may have good FC numbers but he's thus far literally looked like a cat on a tin roof and all his dismissals have basically been shovels to slip. He's not going to get a long run looking like that.

Cricket’s version of VAR seems a bit dodgy if you ask me...

At 70-1, India need a dramatic collapse to come back into this one. Seems like a South Africa win mid-way into the 2nd session tomorrow.

kingraf wrote:

Gooseberry wrote:

kingraf wrote:

I make India the favourites purely because South Africa literally does not have a middle order

I know Bavuma has the sort of test record that would get him a place in Englands top 3 but isn't the keeper supposed to be pretty good with the bat? Its certainly quite a tail ..and only 2 players with an average over the low 30's doesn't suggest they are exactly brimming with proven test class in the batting department top middle or bottom.

Decent start by the top 3, but the onus really is on them to delay any collapse as long as possible. India by no means out of this in spite of msps misgivings.

I think being fair, South African batsmen play on pitches that are either foreign, or at home on the the sort where the #1 team in the world can only make it to the second new ball once in six innings, so the averages are a touch misleading.

Peter Handscomb averages 39, and Australia have never selected again since the 2017-18 Ashes. They went with Wade, Harris, Bancroft etc, all sub par Test bats. And the reason, I think, is because not only did Handscomb not get runs that Ashes, but he really did have some of the ugliest dismissals committed to tape ever. Cricket selectors, especially in Tests haven't quite fallen into the analytics River that has overtaken all of sport, so the eye test is still huge. I say that to say Verreynne may have good FC numbers but he's thus far literally looked like a cat on a tin roof and all his dismissals have basically been shovels to slip. He's not going to get a long run looking like that.

And to be even more fair their opening pair must be the match of any around in terms of test averages, especially given they have to play on home pitches!
You cant paper over the lack of quality bats that have come through post the golden generation though. The decline in the talent pipleine seems even more marked than Englands has been.


As it stands kevin keegan is looking like hes good enough to earn SA a win as MSP says, the top 3 have made enough of a platform now that even with the misgivings about the lowers order it would be hard for SA to chuck this position away. 95-1 now

Just a question, when there’s VAR and you know you’ve hit it. What’s the point standing acting like you didn’t hit it? You come across as a bit of a cheat imo.

Uninspiring effort from India with the ball. They've reverted to the inadequacies of the last test, when they bowled abysmally in the fourth innings. South Africa showed today the value of hitting consistent line and length on a pitch with uneven bounce, India were wild in comparison. That could be the pivotal difference in the series.

That late wicket keeps India in realistic contention, though. And we know losing six wickets for 50 runs is eminently possible on this pitch, so it's still game on.

Back in the balance for me, only Bavuma to come that has any significant Test experience. With the number 6 being an unknown quantity followed by 5 bowlers, going 4 down could mean real trouble

With Kohli in the field India is able to up the intensity , keep cranking up the pressure until something happens
SA is ahead but by not much, as they have crumbled each time Elgar has fallen
India needs to bowl line and length tomm and let the pitch do the rest
Ind needs 2 more quickly and last 5 or 6 can tumble within 30 runs

South Africa has a clear sight of a target. There is usually enough discipline in Bavuma and RvdD. The SA lower order, with Maharaj and Rabada at 8 and 9 is not pushovers. and KP is still there!
So SA still very much ahead tomorrow. If India can chip out 3 or 4 within the next 30-40, then they could hope. Else, shouldn't be too difficult for South Africa.
Its still a good cricket pitch. Batting quality will score runs here. SA lineup has more of it than India's. India paying for not doing what they should have, with deadweight like Rahane.
And that review will be the talking point of the day along with the Pant hundred.
More than anyone else, umpire Marais Erasmus couldn't believe it! Kohli went bonkers afterwards. Perhaps, that might galvanize the Indians tomorrow, and perhaps Supersport will have to look into their technology.

I thought it was going over on the contentious review, and a hawk-eye analysis of a similar ball bowled in Ashwin's next over showed a comparable level of high bounce. That high bounce has been a main factor in why there have been precisely zero LBWs in this test so far.

Meanwhile, after accidentally jinxing Ireland in their first ODI, I'm delighted to say that Ireland are once again cruising to victory - they have the West Indies 114/7 in the first innings. This time, nothing will go wrong!