Spinners give India command on fast-moving day

On a day when he officially ended his long-standing association with Chennai Super Kings, Ravindra Jadeja starred with the ball on a fast-moving day to put India in command of the opening Test against South Africa in Kolkata.

On a surface where the spinners ran riot, India folded for 189 in their first innings, fetching a slender lead of just 30 runs. However, India's left-arm spin trio of Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel ran through the South African lineup to keep their lead to just 63 by stumps on the second day.

India kickstarted the day on a watchful note with bounce being the key factor to negotiate on this surface. Both Washington Sundar and KL Rahul were solid in their approach and slowly brought the deficit down. Having settled down, Washington even lofted Keshav Maharaj over long on for a six as the visitors desperately searched for a breakthrough. After the drinks break, the wicket finally arrived as Simon Harmer bowled a beauty to take Washington's outside edge. India were then dealt a blow when Shubman Gill walked back retired hurt in the same over after hurting his neck.

Even though Rahul broke the shackles in the very next over with a six and Rishabh Pant followed suit with one over the ropes two overs later, South Africa grew in confidence with the pitch playing tricks. Eventually, they turned the tide when Maharaj ended Rahul's vigil. Pant was sent back to the pavilion immediately after he raced to 27 and Harmer stopped Dhruv Jurel's charge post lunch. The left-arm spinner continued to make incisions as India dragged themselves past South Africa's first innings score. With Gill eventually not coming out to bat, India had to settle for a meagre lead of 30.

However, by the time South Africa knocked those runs off, they already lost their openers. Kuldeep trapped Ryan Rickelton lbw on the stroke of Tea and once play resumed in the final session, it was the Ravindra Jadeja show. After getting rid of Aiden Markram, Jadeja dealt the visitors a double blow by dismissing Wiaan Mulder and Tony de Zorzi in the same over to leave South Africa reeling at 40/4. Bavuma tried to keep the scorecard moving with a few boundaries but post the drinks break, Jadeja bowled a ripper to breach Tristan Stubb's defence and hit the top of offstump.

With Bavuma being the key at this point, South Africa were let down by Kyle Verreynne's shot selection as he attempted a wild slog against Axar, only to lose his stumps. After managing to overturn an lbw decision first ball, Marco Jansen hammered a six off Axar to extend South Africa's lead past 50 but Kuldeep eventually rounded off the day with the bowling allrounder's wicket to leave Bavuma stranding. Despite the pitch playing tricks, South Africa would still need a massive effort from their skipper and the lower order to post a fighting total against the home side on the third day.

Brief scores:
South Africa 159 & 93/7 (Temba Bavuma 29*; Ravindra Jadeja 4/29, Kuldeep Yadav 2/12) lead India 189 (KL Rahul 39; Simon Harmer 4/30, Marco Jansen 3/35) by 63 runs