IND vs SA: 1st Test – India on top after Mayank Agarwal double ton on Day 2
India finished the second day of the first Test at Visakhapatnam with complete domination over the visitors. Riding on Mayank Agarwal’s maiden Test double century, India posted 502/7 in the first innings. The home side spinners then reduced South Africa to 39/3 by the end of the day. Earlier, the Indian openers raked records with their triple-century opening partnerships. After batting out two and a half sessions on the second day, India posed plenty of problems in the fading light.
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Rohit and Mayank continue the punishment
Resuming the day on 202/0, the Indian openers wasted no time in getting back on the top of the South African bowling. Rohit set the tone with a boundary on the second ball of the day. Agarwal, who was 84 not out on the first day, completed his maiden Test century without giving any chances. The duo then ramped up the run rate as South Africa toiled under the blazing Vizag sun.
Crossing milestones one by one, Rohit-Agarwal enjoyed the stay against helpless bowling attack. Reverse sweeps, sweeps, lofted shots were employed without fear as runs kept flowing. It took 81.5 overs for the South Africans to celebrate their first wicket. Rohit stepped out against Keshav Maharaj after smashing a six and a four and got out stumped. His majestic knock of 176 also brought an end to the 317-run opening stand.
India tumble with an eye on the declaration
India’s fall of wickets
Vernon Philander took out Cheteshwar Pujara’s off-stump on the very first ball after the lunch. Captain Virat Kohli struck a few crisp boundaries before handing a simple catch back to the debutant bowler – Senuran Muthusamy. Ajinkya Rahane added 15 runs and then offered a simple catch to short cover. At the other end, Agarwal batted with ease and notched his maiden double hundred. He lost his wicket on 215 while taking on the part-time spinner Dean Elgar. These wickets derailed India’s ambition of putting up an impressive total before declaring.
Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha and Ravindra Jadeja all tried to get India past the 500-run mark as quickly as possible. Eventually, the Indian captain called his troops back with 502 runs on the board at the cost of seven wickets. South Africa had to negotiate 20 overs in the fading light against Indian spinners.
Ashwin-Jadeja take three before day’s play
After three overs from pace bowlers, South Africa had to face 17 overs from the lethal spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Both delivered as expected. Ashwin bowled Aiden Markram and extracted an edge from Theunis de Bruyn. Jadeja castled the nightwatchman Dane Piedt to spoil South Africa’s plans of surviving the day. The visitors ended the day with the score of 39/3.
