Proteas grab wickets, but...

South Africa's Jean-Paul Duminy (L) is congratulated by his team mate Dean Elgar after taking the wicket of India's Cheteshwar Pujara during the second day of their third test cricket match in Nagpur. REUTERS/Amit Dave

South Africa's Jean-Paul Duminy (L) is congratulated by his team mate Dean Elgar after taking the wicket of India's Cheteshwar Pujara during the second day of their third test cricket match in Nagpur. REUTERS/Amit Dave

Published Nov 26, 2015

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Nagpur, India - India took complete control of the third Test against South Africa after the visitors were shot out for 79 in their first innings on the second day on Thursday.

Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took his 14th five-wicket haul in tests while left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja bagged four as India, who made 215 after batting first on the turning track at the VCA Stadium, took a first innings lead of 136 runs.

The hosts suffered a mini-collapse in their second innings before reaching 108-5 at tea, extending their overall lead to 244 runs.

Rohit Sharma and Wriddhiman Saha were at the crease but yet to open their account.

Opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan (39), who was dropped on 11 by Dean Elgar, added 44 for the second wicket with Cheteshwar Pujara (31) and another 45 with captain Virat Kohli (16) to keep South Africa at bay before legspinner Imran Tahir wrecked the Indian top order.

In a surprise move, South Africa captain Hashim Amla kept the 36-year-old spinner off the attack till the 24th over but it did not take long for Tahir to strike.

After a quiet first over, he removed Dhawan, then Kohli in the following over and also Ajinkya Rahane (nine) in the last over before the tea break, to reduce India, who were cruising on 97-2, to 108-5.

South Africa's total was the lowest by an opponent dismissed by India in a Test match, beating the previous mark of 82 posted by Sri Lanka in 1990 at Chandigarh.

The touring batsmen appeared clueless against the accuracy of Ashwin and Jadeja on a pitch offering variable pace and bounce for the bowlers.

Opening batsman Elgar (seven) fell in the first over of the day to Ashwin and was quickly joined in the dressing room by Hashim Amla (one) and AB de Villiers (nought).

Faf du Plessis (10) was the first South Africa batsman to reach double figures and, along with JP Duminy (35), ensured that the team went past their lowest test score of 30.

Legspinner Amit Mishra dismissed Duminy, the top scorer for the touring side, who resumed the day on 11-2.

India, who won the opening test in Mohali before the second match was washed out due to rain in Bangalore, are eyeing an unassailable 2-0 lead in the four-test series after losing the preceding one-day international and Twenty20 series. – Reuters

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