Kolkata: Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav struck an early blow as India reduced South Africa to 18 for 1 at tea after their own first-innings fumble on the second day of the first Test here Saturday.
South Africa trail by 12 runs. Ryan Rickelton fell leg before to Kuldeep at the stroke of tea and Aiden Markram is batting on 3.
Earlier, pacer Marco Jansen and off-spinner Simon Harmer took seven wickets between them as South Africa fought back to skittle India for 189 in the first innings.
Jansen (3/35) and Harmer (4/30) ensured that India’s first-innings lead is limited to a mere 30 runs on a spiteful Eden Gardens pitch.
KL Rahul (39) was India’s top-scorer while Rishabh Pant and Ravindra Jadeja contributed 27 each.
India’s struggles were compounded by the skipper Shubman Gill’s inability to bat on the second day because of a neck spasm.
He was retired hurt on 4 and never returned to the field.
Brief scores:
South Africa: 159 all out and 18/1 in 6.4 overs vs India: 189 all out in 62.2 overs (KL Rahul 39; Marco Jansen 3/35, Simon Harmer 4/30).
PTI
