The South African bowling attack was once again successful to scythe through Indian batting line-up as they restricted the Men in Blue to 187 runs in the 1st innings of the 3rd Test.

Winning the toss at the New Wanderers Stadium on Thursday, India opted to bat first. Despite two half-centuries form Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli, India failed to go past 200 runs. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar also tried to salvage some pride for the Indian team with his innings of 30 runs, while the rest of the team crumbled like a used tissue paper.

This time captain Kohli left no chance for the critics to talk about the playing XI by including both Bhuvaneshwar and Rahane in the team. However, Ajinkya Rahane could not manage to score more than 9 runs before Morne Morkel trapped him lbw.

India lost 3 wickets in 3 successive overs, as Phehlukwayo picked up the wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara and Hardik Pandya. Parthiv Patel’s wicket was followed by Pujara’s departure as Morkel dismissed the keeper-batsman.

Rabada took 3 wickets and Lungisani Ngidi got his only wicket by dismissing Virat Kohli. Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander, and Andile Phehlukwayo bagged two wickets each.

South African batsmen struggled on the pitch as well before the umpire called stumps. The Proteas lost the wicket of Aiden Markram and avoided further collapse by sending Kagiso Rabada as the night watchman who has seen off the day’s play whenever given this duty.

South Africa posted 6 runs in 6 overs and are now trailing by 181 runs. They will hope cash in on the advantages that they have achieved on day-1 in their quest for a 3-0 result.