South Africa are on the brink of losing their first Test series away from home in nine years after India bowled them out for 79 on day two of the third Test, in Nagpur.
India have a first-innings lead of 143 runs as they went to lunch on 7-0. South Africa’s total is the lowest total by any team against India as the batsmen fell like flies inside 90 minutes.
The morning belonged to Ravi Ashwin (5-32) and Ravindra Jadeja (4-33) who ripped through the South African batting line-up like a hurricane on Thursday morning.
JP Duminy (35) fought valiantly for 65 balls before Amit Mishra trapped him lbw. Duminy was the only batsman to show any resistance to the onslaught, and although he batted well and looked reasonably comfortable throughout his innings, he was dropped on 13 by Virat Kohli at slip.
The morning started in the worst way possible when Dean Elgar played at a wide one from Ashwin and chopped the ball on to his stumps off the fifth ball of the day.
Hashim Amla (1) was caught by Ajinkya Rahane after top edging a sweep shot. AB de Villiers, the only South African player who has looked in control in this series, was undone by some extra bounce by Jadeja, flicking the ball back to the bowler for a duck.
Faf du Plessis (10) hung around for 20 balls before he tried to play a big shot through cover and missed a straight one which didn’t turn.
Duminy took the attack to India, twice hitting sixes with the spin through the leg side. He also ran hard between the wickets to rotate the strike but when he was out India wrapped things up quickly.
Dane Vilas got an unplayable delivery from Jadeja before Simon Harmer was bowled between his legs by a ball which pitched outside leg-stump.
