1st Test: India 28/3 in response to South Africa's 286 on Day 1, lose advantage

Cape Town, Jan 5: Indian batsmen played some careless strokes to let the advantage slip away from their hands by losing three quick wickets after their bowlers restricted South Africa to 286 in the first innings on first day of the opening Test here on Friday (January 5).

At stumps, India were struggling at 28/3 after 11 overs and trailed the Proteas by 258 runs with their three main batsmen i.e. Murali Vijay (1), Shikhar Dhawan (16) and Virat Kohli (5) back into the pavilion.

It was a display of poor shot selection from the Indians as they gifted their wickets away to the South African pacers and let the game slip away off their hands.

Cheteshwar Pujara (5*) and Rohit Sharma (0*) will resume India's innings on the second day. The tourists would now face an uphill task of overhauling the lead and then taking a significant lead against a side that a quality pace attack.

The South African pace arsenal, comprising Vernon Philander, Morne Morkel, Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada are going to make it tough for the remaining Indian batting attack and would leave no stones unturned to restrict the tourists to as low total as possible.

Highlight of the day for me was Bhuvaneswar's first spell and AB's thrilling counter attack. That to me was what test cricket is about

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) January 5, 2018

It was a day dominated by the bowlers as 13 wickets fell in all. Of these 13 wickets, eleven were claimed by pacers which tells how the pitch at Newlands Stadium is behaving.

Earlier, Bhuvneshwar Kumar emerged as the pick of the bowlers for the hosts as he grabbed four wickets. The right-arm India pacer rattled the Proteas top-order single-handely as he wreaked havoc in his fiery first spell. Bhuvneshwar got three wickets from his first three overs and reduced the hosts to 12/3, their worst ever collapse in a century.

Rest of the Indian bowlers also put up a disciplined show to start the tour on a positive note. However, they were not as lethal as they should have been when the South African tail was exposed. The Indians, perhaps, conceded 25-30 more runs.

What Indian team needs tomorrow: courage, conviction, character. Remember, SA were 12-3 today and looking without hope...

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) January 5, 2018

Bhuvneshwar, in the post-day interview, conceded those 25-30 extra runs would hurt them and also lauded the counter-attack put up by AB de Villiers.

Bhuvneshwar said, "Amazing day, that's how Test cricket is. To be honest, we could have bowled better. We gave 25-30 runs extra."

"Just wanted to bowl in good areas. Wanted to get the batsmen out caught behind or in the slips. Knew it doesn't swing much in South Africa. In Test cricket, top of off-stump is an area where every batsman is vulnerable."

On Amla's wicket, the pacer said,"He's (Amla) the kind of batsman who can make big hundreds if he gets going. Very pleasing to get him out. Never felt the wicket would be slow. Thought there would be lateral movement and that's what happened."

29 balls are the fewest South Africa faced before losing their 3rd wicket in first innings of a Test match in the last 20 years. #SAvIND

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) January 5, 2018

"Overall we're happy with the way we've bowled. AB (de Villiers) is best in the world. You have to be at your best to bowl to him. His counter-attack hurt us. It's gonna be a tough way forward for us. We knew these are the situations we'll have to tackle with," the 29-year-old concluded.

Earlier, veteran AB de Villiers showcased class while captain Faf du Plessis displayed his gritty side as hosts recovered from 12/3 to 107/3 in the morning session.

The top order collapsed in front of the Indian swing specialist who struck on the very third ball of the match after South African captain won the toss and elected to bat in the opening Test of the Freedom Series.

India begin this SA tour with a wicket off third ball - Bhuvneshwar gets Elgar.

This is the quickest India have taken a wicket on a tour since 1992-93 in SA when Kapil Dev dismissed Jimmy Cook off the first ball of the series. #SAvInd

— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) January 5, 2018

Dean Elgar (0), Aiden Markram (5) and Hashim Amla (3) fell to some beauties produced by the Indian seamer early on. But he didn't get the right kind of support from the other end and helped the hosts to get back on the path to recovery.

It was looking like a crisis for the hosts, but De Villiers and Du Plessis dragged them out of that, and things started looking brighter for the home side. De Villiers notched up his 41st Test half-century and looked in his zone from the moment he stepped into the field.

Despite returning from a sabbatical, the right-handed batsman looked in control and counter-attacked from the word go. The former skipper was supported equally well from the other end by his successor at the other end. At lunch, the hosts looked headed towards a big total as the partnership between the two was going strong.

But the visitors came back strongly in the post-lunch session and Jasprit Bumrah removed AB de Villiers for 65. Soon after Hardik Pandya dismissed the host skipper for 62 and half of the side was back to the pavilion for 142.

Rahane’s absence will be felt in the slip cordon too. Remember, India’s record in slips isn’t very good. Best hands dropped. #SAvIND

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) January 5, 2018

But a breezy cameo from Quinton de Kock (43 off 40) ensured the Proteas crossed the 200-run mark in no time. De Kock was removed by Bhuvneshwar and Vernon Philander was dismissed by Mohammad Shami for 23.

India pacer Jasprit Bumrah made his Test debut after skipper Virat Kohli handed the speedster his cap. India made another bold move by leaving vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane out and bringing in Rohit Sharma.

South Africa's worst starts at home in match's first innings:
10/3 v Eng (Port Elizabeth 1889)
11/3 v Ind (Jo'burg 1992)
12/3 v Ind (TODAY)#SAvIND #INDvSA

— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) January 5, 2018

"We will have a bat. The wicket is slow and it will get better to bat on as the day wears on. I don't look too much into stats. The conditions have changed over the last two years. When we played Sri Lanka here it was slow initially and then it quickened up nicely. We are playing four seamers and a spinner which means one less batsman. Temba Bavuma misses out," said du Plessis.

"Looking at the amount of the grass on the wicket and the surface being not that hard, looking at our bowlers' strength, I think we would have bowled first given ourselves a good crack with the new ball which is because they are playing one batter less. So, we wanted to exploit their batting order unsettle them in the first 15-20 overs with the new ball. We will have three quicks and Hardik Pandya as the all-rounder."

"Ashwin is the lone spinner. Jasprit Bumarh is making his Test debut. He has come a long way and he has done really well in the limited overs cricket. He is bowling a really heavy ball and has been the most impressive seamer here in our preparations. We are very excited to have him start his Test career today and wish him all the best. Our last big tour outside India was Australia and we won a series in Sri Lanka as well. It really was something that set the things up for us. The mindset we had there really mattered. We bring the same mindset here as well. We want to play positive cricket," said Kohli.

Jasprit Bumrah's first wickets:

In IPL - Virat Kohli
In ODIs - Steven Smith
In T20Is - David Warner
In Tests - AB DE VILLIERS#SAvIND

— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) January 5, 2018

No Indian team has won a Test series in South Africa, and there is a confidence in this unit that comes from their collective strength that is different from every other squad that has landed on these shores. And looking at the kind of game the hosts played in the final 45 minutes of the day, it seems things are not going to be a cakewalk for the visitors and they will have to produce something memorable to keep themselves in the contest from this stage.