Nagpur, Nov 26 : The story has been so similar to Day 1, Mohali so far. India batted first, 12 wickets fell, just that the scores are slightly different. How will the second day pan out? It's going to be spin, spin and more spin from India. This game is moving very fast and don't miss out on anything tomorrow. Join us back at 09:30 local time for all the action.
Coming back to the match scenario. South Africa need to put in all their lives, so to say, in this first innings. Just cannot afford to offer a big lead. Or any lead for that matter taking into account they have to bat last. Already two down, now is the time for the Amlas and the du Plessis to say hello. Both of them have been like lost souls on this tour. Can't leave it all to AB de Villiers. While looking at the flip side, I fully expect Jadeja to be lording here. Firing them in from his sling-shot action and leaving the pitch to do the rest. Good luck tackling him.
Day 2: Puffs of dust. Explosions off the deck. Loads of turn. Why the two-coloured nature, is it cursed? Okay, I know that the last part was a tad bit exaggerated. But nevertheless, the pitch offered at the Jamtha has set tongues wagging all across the fraternity. So much so that it has almost taken precedence over the actual match. Almost. Simon Harmer didn't look too amused in the post Day 1 presser. 'These wickets are not prepared to last the whole 5 days', he groaned. He should be secretly thankful. Generated massive turn and was mighty impressive.
Pitch report: 'What we see here is that the pitch hasn't improved, but it hasn't disintegrated either. Nothing off the top has come off. We knew all along that it will be very tough for the batsmen. They would need loads of patience. It will tell you the kind of skill a batsman possesses,' says Sunil Gavaskar with a cunning smile
It all started early on in the day. The pacers were taken off after the new ball offered absolutely zip. And Harmer, Elgar started making things happen. Despite all this, Vijay was in a zone of his own. But by now, Morkel also had found some reverse-swing going. Bowled a corker of a spell aided by some loose strokeplay from the Indian batsmen to strike 3 big blows. India's lower order rallied courtesy a counter-attacking Jadeja and a steady Saha. Enabled the hosts to crawl over the 200-mark.