Chaos reigned supreme in Cape Town as 23 wickets fell on the first day with both the Indian and South African batting units being made to toil hard on a green top that had ample assistance for the pacers. Winning the toss, South Africa opted to bat first and instantly realized the gravity of the mistake that they had made.

Mohammed Siraj started spewing fireballs as the South African batting unit could barely stick together in a piece and crumbled faster than a house of cards. With figures of 6/15, Siraj ran amok through the South African batting order, claiming the scalps of Aiden Markram, Dean Elgar, Tony de Zorzi, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreyne and Marco Jansen.

Complementing Miyan perfectly, Jasprit Bumrah and Mukesh Kumar bagged two wickets each, skittling South Africa out for 55 in the first innings, which is their lowest score in Test cricket ever since their re-introduction to the international circuit.

Despite Yashasvi Jaiswal falling for a duck, Rohit Sharma made amends alongside Shubman Gill and the duo looked in fine touch, adding 55 runs for the second wicket. Rohit Sharma fell for 39 as Nandre Burger got the better of him and followed it up with the scalp of Shubman Gill for 36.

However, Virat Kohli’s residence in the center allowed India to still dream big and knit together a formidable lead, only for them to collapse in the end as they went onto lose six wickets for no runs whatsoever. From 153/4, India got bundled out for 153 as Burger, Lungi Ngidi and Kagiso Rabada claimed three wickets each. Kohli top scored with 46 from 59 balls as India posted a lead of 98 runs.

South Africa did get off to a feisty start in the second innings with the idea of plugging the deficit without breaking a sweat but Mukesh Kumar’s double whammy of Dean Elgar (12) and Tony de Zorzi (1), in addition to Bumrah’s strike of Tristan Stubbs (1) allowed India to be back with a bang at the end of day’s play. South Africa finished things off with a score of 62/3 as India still led by 36 runs at the end of the first day’s play.