India pacer Shardul Thakur picked up a maiden five-wicket haul in Tests on the second day of the second Test against South Africa at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on Tuesday. 

South African skipper Dean Elgar and Keegan Petersen built a valiant partnership for the second wicket before the 30-year-old had a say. He dismissed Elgar, Petersen, and Rassie van der Dussen before Lunch, bringing India right back into the game. 

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The hosts resumed their innings after Lunch on a solid note with Temba Bavuma and Kyle Verreynne building a valiant partnership for the second wicket. Just when the hosts were getting comfortable, Thakur struck once again, dismissing both Bavuma and Verreynne to complete his five-wicket haul and registering his career-best figures in Tests.

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Several former cricketers took to Twitter to laud the pacer for his effort.

“Fantastic from shardul.Impressive bowling with an older ball!” former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan tweeted.

Vinay Kumar tweeted, “Bowling more in domestic cricket will help a fast bowler to use the old ball to the fullest of his ability. Congratulations Shardul Thakur on your fifer.”

“SA batters facing charged up Lord Shardul today. Well bowled,” Wasim Jaffer wrote. 

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Meanwhile, the visitors were all out for 202 in their first innings. The hosts took a first-innings lead of 27 runs over India.

Brief Scores: India 1st innings: 202 all out in 63.1 overs. (Mayank Agarwal 26, KL Rahul 50; Duanne Olivier 3/64, Marco Jansen 4/31, Kagiso Rabada 3/64). South Africa 1st innings: 229 all out in 79.4 overs (Keegan Petersen 62; Shardul Thakur 7/61).