On Saturday, November 15, the day two of the first Test in the two-match series was all about the bowlers from South Africa and India with 15 wickets falling in total with most falling to the spin bowlers.
At the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, Ravindra Jadeja ran through the South Africa top order, picking up four wickets to reduce the visitors to 93/7 in 35 overs in their second innings, who lead by just 63 runs.
Earlier, India began the first session on day two with KL Rahul and Washington Sundar at the crease in their first innings as the scorecard read 37/1. These two batters extended their partnership to 57 runs before Sundar (29 off 82 with two fours and one six) fell to Simon Harmer and shortly after, Indian captain Shubman Gill retired hurt on 4* off 3 due to a neck spasm.
Rishabh Pant took the attack to the South Africa bowlers in his return innings to Test cricket but he was dismissed by Corbin Bosch for 27 off 24 with two fours and two sixes a few overs after KL Rahul (39 off 119 with four fours and one six) lost his wicket to Keshav Maharaj. During the second session on day two, India fell away drastically with the bat, losing five wickets to get bundled out despite Ravindra Jadeja scoring 27 off 45 with three fours in the latter phase of the innings.
The first innings of India folded on 189 runs in 62.2 overs with Simon Harmer taking four wickets and Marco Jansen dismissing three batters. South Africa found themselves 30 runs behind at the start of their second innings and on a pitch aiding the bowlers more and more as the time progressed, Kuldeep Yadav trapped Ryan Rickelton lbw for 11 at the stroke of tea.
Ravindra Jadeja came into the attack for India at the start of the third session and he instantly delivered for acting captain Rishabh Pant in the absence of injured Shubman Gill, dismissing key South Africa batter Aiden Markram for just four runs. Wiaan Mulder started to settle in tricky conditions but his innings was cut short by Jadeja on 11 before the latter sent Tony de Zorzi back into the pavilion for 2 off 2 in the same over.
Tristan Stubbs got cleaned up by Jadeja for five before Axar Patel got into the act and delivered the same fate to Kyle Verreynne. Marco Jansen survived a close call in the early phase of his innings and went onto hit a six before Kuldeep Yadav got the better of him for 13 off 16, to give India their sixth wicket of the third and final session of day two just minutes prior to play getting called off ahead of the schedule close due to bad light.
