Jansen hurts India again, South Africa sense victory

Marco Jansen continued to torment India in the second and final test in Guwahati as the lanky quick claimed 6-48 to help South Africa grab a potentially decisive first-innings lead of 288 on day three on Monday.

A day after smashing a career-best 93 in South Africa’s first-innings total of 489, Jansen helped dismantle India for 201 at the first ever test at Barsapara Cricket Stadium.

Aiden Markram produced a catching masterclass with five of them, including a one-handed stunner to remove Nitish Kumar Reddy.

South Africa, pushing for a 2-0 series sweep, did not enforce the follow-on and finished the day on 26 for no loss and an overall lead of 314.

Ryan Rickelton (13) and Markram (12) will return on Tuesday hoping to bat India out of the match.

“There’s obviously nice pace and bounce in the wicket,” Jansen said.

“Not a lot of nip or swing, a little bit here at the end. Once we saw there was a bit of bounce and better pace in the wicket, we tried to utilise that.”

“Obviously, a good day for the chaps and for myself in particular. I feel the spinners did a really good job when the ball wasn’t moving as much and there was a dead period at some stage.”

Pitch like a road, says Maharaj

Earlier, India resumed on nine for no loss on a wicket described as a “road” by spinner Kuldeep Yadav because of its lack of assistance for the bowlers.

KL Rahul (22) looked compact in defence while his opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal (58) was more fluent, often employing the sweep shot to counter the spinners.

Keshav Maharaj broke the 65-run opening stand an hour into play when Rahul lunged forward to defend a ball but was done for by the extra bounce. The ball hit the shoulder of his bat before nestling into Markram’s hands at slip.

Jaiswal took two off Simon Harmer’s bowling to bring up the first fifty by an India batter in the series but his knock did not last much longer.

The left-hander was surprised by the slowness of the track and spooned a Harmer delivery towards backward point where it would have landed short of most players but not the 2.06m tall Jansen, who dived forward to pouch the ball.

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Harmer claimed a second victim when Sai Sudharsan pulled the ball to Rickelton at mid-wicket.

Jansen then hit India with a bouncer barrage that paid off handsomely on an otherwise docile track and left the hosts reeling at 122-7.

A 72-run stand between Washington Sundar (48) and Kuldeep proved the wicket was far from unplayable but the hosts were let down by their frontline batters. Number nine Kuldeep faced 134 balls, the most by any Indian batter, for his 19.