India vs South Africa, 2nd Test: Men in blue stare at a series defeat

South Africa bowler Lungi Ngidi celebrates after dismissing India batsman Lokesh Rahul Pic AFPThe muchvaunted Indian top order struggled yet again against quality fast bowling as the visitors stared at a series defeat at the close of fourth day in the second cricket Test against South Africa here today Chasing 287 for a win which will be the highest ever at this venue if successful Murali Vijay 9 Lokesh Rahul 4 and captain Virat Kohli 5 were dismissed cheaply in the final session of day as India were reduced to 35 for 3 from 23 overs at stumpsDebutant Lungi Ngidi grabbed the wickets of Kohli and Rahul while Kagiso Rabada dismissed Vijay to rock the Indian second innings and place South Africa in a commanding position of clinching the threematch series with one Test to go in Johannesburg from January 24Cheteshwar Pujara and Parthiv Patel were batting on 11 and 5 respectively at the close of the days play after an extended final session The visitors now need 252 more runs on the final day tomorrow to win the Test with seven second innings wickets in hand It will be a tall task if not an impossible one for India as 249 is the highest total chased down successfully by any side at the Centurion a feat achieved by England in 2000South Africa were 10 up in the threematch Test series after their 72run victory in Cape Town A series defeat would also snap Indias nineseries winning streakIndia got off to a poor start and Vijay was the first one to go as one delivery from Rabada 19 in the eighth over kept low and nipped back The batsman got an inside edge and was bowledRahuls dismissal was worse in that he was caught at gully imparting catching practice off Ngidi four overs later The big blow came when in the 16th over Ngidi trapped Kohli lbw as another ball kept low The batsman reviewed but DRS showed three reds against himSurprisingly Patel was sent out to bat ahead of Rohit Sharma and he endured a blow from Ngidi But he managed to stay at the crease and along with Pujara avoided further loss This was after India made quick work of South Africas lower order posttea and bowled them out for 258 runs 913 overs in the second inningsIndia did not take the second new ball as Mohammed Shami 449 had Rabada 4 caught at second slip in the sixth over after the break Eight balls later Jasprit Bumrah 370 held a sharp return catch to dismiss Faf du Plessis 48 Overall du Plessis faced 141 balls and hit four foursR Ashwin 178 then had Ngidi 1 caught at long on to wrap up the innings with South Africa taking an overall 286run lead Ishant Sharma finished with 240Earlier post lunch the proceedings slowed down as India were happy to not concede too many runs Du Plessis and Vernon Philander 26 were also happy in not creating many scoring chances and both sides continued to stonewallThe duo added only 31 runs in 15 overs just over an hours play since lunch Overall their partnership for the sixth wicket yielded 46 runs off 156 balls In the second hour of the extended session Ishant got the breakthrough Philander pulled a short delivery but only managed to lob it to Vijay Two overs later Keshav Maharaj 6 was also caught behind off Ishant as South Africa werereduced to 2157Du Plessis and Rabada though managed to see out the last six overs of the session Surprisingly India did not take the second new ball after 80 overs Even more surprisingly Shami bowled only one over the last one through this session This was after Shamis threewicket spell had reduced South Africa to 1735 at lunchIn the morning session news broke that Kohi has been fined 25 per cent of his match fees and received one demerit point for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct during the final session on day threeThe Indian skipper had protested animatedly to onfield umpires Paul Reiffel and Michael Gough that the ball was too wet when play resumed after a brief rain break He later pleaded guilty to the chargeStarting from overnight 902 AB de Villiers 80 runs 121 balls and Dean Elgar 61 runs 121 balls took their third wicket partnership to 141 runsWhile Bumrah attacked the batsmen more Ishant was content on keeping the runrate down It allowed an easy first hour for the batting pair as they added 54 runs until drinks Their 100run stand came off 167 balls South Africa crossed 100 in the 33rd over and then 150 in the 43rdThe turnaround came when Shami was introduced into the attack and he immediately started getting the ball to reverse First he induced an edge off de Villiers in 42nd over with the batsman surprised by extra bounce and was caught behindFour overs later Elgar pulled a short ball off Shami straight to Rahul at deep square leg The fielder fumbled but managed to hold onCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates hereDownload the new midday Android and iOS apps to get updates on all the latest and trending stories on the go