SA v IND, 3rd Test: South Africa lose Markram and Elgar in pursuit of 212

Cape Town, Jan 13 (IANS) South Africa lost Aiden Markram and then captain Dean Elgar as they reached 101/2 at stumps on day three of third Test at the Newlands Cricket Ground on Thursday. For the hosts, the impressive Keegan Petersen is unbeaten at 48 as South Africa still need 111 runs to win the match.

South Africa began well with Markram getting some streaky boundaries through the off-side off Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah. Amid high chatter from the Indian team, Shami extracted the outer edge twice from Markram. The first one went for a boundary between gully and backward point. But on the very next ball, Markram again went for the loose pull and outside edge flew to KL Rahul at third slip.

Keegan Petersen got off the mark with a well-timed off-drive through mid-off off Bumrah. He and Elgar oozed confidence while getting boundaries. Ravichandran Ashwin had Elgar trapped lbw on his third over of the day. Elgar reviewed and ball-tracking showed that the ball would go over the stumps, surprising the Indian team.

Post this, Petersen played some great-quality shots, cutting Shardul Thakur through off-side, bringing his delightful backfoot punch off Bumrah and reverse sweeping and cutting Ashwin with ease. He then picked a boundary flying past diving Pant off Shami followed by a drive through off-side to take South Africa past 100. Bumrah broke the 78-run partnership as Elgar was strangled down leg and Pant dived to his right to take the catch at the stroke of stumps.

Brief scores: India 223 in 77.3 overs and 198 in 67.3 overs (Rishabh Pant 100 not out, Virat Kohli 29; Marco Jansen 4/36, Lungi Ngidi 3/21) against South Africa in 76.3 overs and 101/2 in 29.4 overs (Keegan Petersen 48 not out, Dean Elgar 30; Mohammed Shami 1/22, Jasprit Bumrah 1/29), South Africa need 111 runs to win.

–IANS

–nr