2nd Test, Day 2: India lead South Africa by 58 runs at stumps

India (first innings: 202, second innings: 85/2) lead South Africa (first innings: 229) by 58 runs at stumps of Day 2 of the second Test, which is taking place at the Wanderers Stadium (also popularly known as the ‘Bullring’) in Johannesburg.

Day 2 saw an intriguing contest take place between the visitors and the hosts. South Africa began the day well and cruised to 87/1, before captain Dean Elgar fell after a contribution of 28 runs. Elgar’s dismissal was shortly followed by that of Keegan Petersen (62 off 118 balls) and Rassie van der Dussen (1 off 17 balls). The dismissal of van der Dussen was particularly controversial as Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant appeared to have grabbed the ball after it had hit the grass.

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According to ESPNcricinfo, South Africa captain Dean Elgar and the team’s manager Khomotso Masubelele also met with match officials during the lunch break to discuss van der Dussen’s dismissal. The decision was not overturned and it remains unclear what was discussed.

However, unheralded Indian pacer Shardul Thakur, whose first name means ‘Tiger’ in Sanskrit, put on a performance worthy of his name and stole the show by taking seven wickets and giving away a mere 61 runs, a career best for the 30-year-old bowler.

It was Thakur’s effort that nullified India’s seemingly inadequate first innings score of 202 with the lead being restricted to 27 at the end of South Africa’s first innings.

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As India began its second innings, under-fire Indian batsmen Chesteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane held the fort for India after opening batsmen KL Rahul and Mayank Agarwal were dismissed fairly early, managing a mere 8 and 23 runs, respectively.

As it stands, both Pujara and Rahane are not out and will head into Day 3 at Johannesburg with hopes of putting in a solid performance.

[Edited with PTI inputs]