Kagiso Rabada claimed the important wickets of Indian top order batters Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant before lunch to keep South Africa in this Test match.
At the end of the first session of day three of the second Test match at the Wanderers, India were on 188/6 with Hanuma Vihari on six and Shardul Thakur on four.
India, who started the day on 85/2, went to the lunch break with a second innings lead of 161 runs and Vihari and Thakur faced with the challenge of extending their lead further.
Rabada started the much-needed intervention by breaking the partnership of 111 off 144 between Pujara and Rahane, who added 70 runs to India’s overnight score of 85.
Rahane was lucky to have lasted that long as miscommunication between Aiden Markram and Keegan Petersen at slips let him off the hook as they allowed the ball to land safely.
Rahane (58) was the first wicket to fall in the morning when he was caught by Kyle Verreynne behind the stumps off the bowling of Rabada having registered his 25th Test half century.
Rahane was soon followed by Pujara (53), who registered his 32nd Test half century, when he was trapped in front by Rabada as India started to crumble after the good work they did during the opening hour.
Rabada was not done yet as he went on to account for the wicket of Pant without scoring as the Proteas continued to dismantle the Indian middle order.
The last wicket of the session came shortly before the break when Ashwin was caught by Verreynne behind from the bowling of Lungi Ngidi.
