Guwahati Test: India in trouble at 102/4 on 3rd day in reply to South Africa’s 489

GUWAHATI: Yashasvi Jaiswal was done in by a ball that bounced while poor shots from Sai Sudharsan and Dhruv Jurel left India struggling at 102 for 4 against South Africa at tea on the third day of the second Test here on Monday.

India were cruising along at 95 for 1 but a combination of freak deliveries and questionable shot selection saw them losing three wickets for seven runs in the first session.

Jaiswal (58 off 97 balls) hit a stroke-filled half-century before a ball from Simon Harmer jumped from length, catching him unawares. The southpaw tried to check his drive and it turned into a jab for Marco KL Rahul (22) also looked solid during the opening stand of 65 with the Jaiswal as the duo was hardly bothered by South Africans. But there were two deliveries — one each from Keshav Maharaj (1/29 in 9 overs) and Harmer (2/39 in 11 overs) — that completely changed the course of the morning session.Even Rahul looked solid at the other end, having started with a flowing cover drive but Maharaj went wide off the crease, got one to jump from length drawing the batter forward and it turned enough to take the outside edge of his bat into the hands of Aiden Markram at first slip.

However it was Sai Sudharsan, who once again showed his problems of going onto the back foot against spinners and perishing in the process. Just like it happened in Ahmedabad against West Indies, he once again went into back foot to pull Harmer and didn’t get any elevation with Ryan Rickleton taking a diving catch at mid-wicket.