7.2 you don't need the pitch to do your dirty work when you are in the form Ashwin is in. Beautiful delivery - in that it has no tricks. Absolutely nothing. Just a straight ball, tossed up to let the batsman's nerves fester, pitched on middle and on a good length to make sure he has to play. Van Zyl, as his team-mates had done in Mohali and failed - plays for the turn and is rapped in front of the stumps. Simple enough call for umpire Kettleborough 15/1
    24.2 rolls onto the stumps! Elgar is morose beyond words, but he should have played with a straight bat. Got into the sweep, but he had done so by exposing his stumps. The ploy was to put the leg-before out of play, but the flip side of those tactics helps India. Jaddu bowls his usually accurate middle and off line. Elgar tries to make a touch more out of it by moving outside the line and tries to tickle it fine. Gets just a bit of glove and it wanders back and tips middle 78/4
    7.5 Puj has taken an absolute blinder, but the umpires are asking a bewildered du Plessis to wait. The soft signal is out! Things happening the moment the in-form bowler is on. And Ashwin has defeated another batsman in the flight. The crowd has erupted into screams of 'ABD.' (But Amla is their No. 4) Faf was down the track, trying to take advantage of his ners to get off the mark. But the ball dipped on him, the batsman went on with his flick, and gets an inside edge. The ball goes almost hugging the turf, Puj has to stay low, get lower and he has taken it in his fingertips. There seems to be some about of the ball not under the fingers, but the third ump punches the red light. 15/2
    14.6 knocked him over! Has Amla played inside the line here? No, this is a rip-roaring delivery! It has pace so Amla can't adjust. It is fullish, but Amla is a new batsman. He can't push forward as quickly. Caught on the crease, he tries to defend down the original line of the ball on middle stump. But Aaron has got the ball to straighten. Remember when commentators say, the ball just has to move enough. This did and topples top of off 45/3
    51.3 India are celebrating. Jaddu is hugging the heck out of Saha and the umpires are going for a second opinion. Soft signal is out. AB was down the track, but instead of padding it all way, he does try to play a shot here. The ball bounces a touch more, takes a lot of the pad and wanders towards the leg side in front of the wicket. Saha has watched it all, races forward, dives full length and has taken it one-handed. That much is clear. But did he get bat on it. The umpire is only checking if this is a clean catch, so he definitely did touch it, according to them. Down comes the reply. It is the affirmative and AB walks back, denied a hundred in his 100th Test. At least for now. Roar from Bangalore, clapping from his team-mates and his family and he leads the players off with a raise of his bat 177/7
    34.6 Rahane, he does not drop anything! This was coming low, he had to push forward, go to his left a touch too, and shovel the ball up into his hands. Not even the slightest hint of doubt. Duminy was on the back foot again, trying to play that push through the covers. But he was a little too legside of the ball, I think, and this one turned. Took the outside edge and the record-breaking Rahane proves his mettle again 120/5
    45.4 right back at him. How simple. How kind. Vilas runs down the track, but he might have given the ghost too early. Jaddu holds the ball back enough that he can't get to the pitch. Vilas goes for the drive on the up, the face of his bat closes, and the catch is mostly a formality. Two wasted wickets in this session, both to Jaddu, neither ball turned. 159/6
    58.6 that's done and dusted. Abbott clips the flatter delivery to square leg, then took a few steps down. Tahir responded, but then immediately backtracked. Abbott has to stop, turn, rush back and amid all that he slips as well. Too much goes against him. The throw from Dhawan adds to the pile and he's miles out 214/10
    51.5 oh that's all it took. Just a little more flight to leave Rabada in a bit of strife. Plonky sort of forward defensive, playing with hard hands, which is perilous when he can't reach the pitch. The ball turns thereafter, takes the inside edge and lands in Pujara's lap 177/8
    58.5 top edge, it's a steepler and Stuart Binny has taken a blinder! Spreads his hands at the outfield and revels in his success. This is a tossed up delivery with a hint of room. Nice and slow too to get the tailender to lose his head and swipe across the line. Which Morkel does. The ball ends up around the long-on area, when it was intended for midwicket. Classic symptom of hitting against the turn. Binny is the man running back, craning his neck back to track the ball. Judges it to perfection and takes with both hands 214/9
    not out
    8 (lb 2, nb 6)
    214 all out (59 Overs, RR: 3.62, 267 minutes)
    Fall of wickets: 1-15 (S van Zyl, 7.2 ov), 2-15 (F du Plessis, 7.5 ov), 3-45 (HM Amla, 14.6 ov), 4-78 (D Elgar, 24.2 ov), 5-120 (JP Duminy, 34.6 ov), 6-159 (DJ Vilas, 45.4 ov), 7-177 (AB de Villiers, 51.3 ov), 8-177 (K Rabada, 51.5 ov), 9-214 (M Morkel, 58.5 ov), 10-214 (KJ Abbott, 58.6 ov)
    I Sharma1334003.0704
    STR Binny32100.3300
    R Ashwin1827043.8800
    VR Aaron905115.6602
    RA Jadeja1625043.1200

Close of Play

  • Sat, 14 Nov - day 1 - India 1st innings 80/0 (M Vijay 28*, S Dhawan 45*, 22 ov)
  • Sun, 15 Nov - day 2 - no play
  • Mon, 16 Nov - day 3 - no play
  • Tue, 17 Nov - day 4 - no play
  • Wed, 18 Nov - day 5 - no play

Match Notes

end of a drought


No. of 50 stands before this by India's openers in 8 Test inns since their 283-run stand against Bangladesh in Fatullah.



Last time SA played a Test without Steyn, v Eng in Centurion; Steyn had played 48 consecutive Tests for SA since then.

Jadeja's first-class best


First-class wkts by Jadeja in 2015-16 - equal the most he has taken in any season. His average of 11.54 this season is his best.

spinners on a roll


Wickets by India's spinners out of the 30 taken by India in this series. India's fast bowlers have taken only two.

ABD in a different league


ABD's batting average against spinners on this tour. He has struck at 93.27. The other SA batsmen have averaged just 19.90.

ABD in Bengaluru


Runs ABD has made in T20s in Bengaluru. He has just eight runs in internationals (2 ODIs) here before today.

Early Double strike


Wkts by Ashwin in SA's 8th over - the earliest a spinner has taken 2 or more wkts in an over in 1st inns of any Test in the last 10 yrs.

None in two years


100 opening stands by SA in Tests since 2014 - only team without one from 10-plus inns. SA's 1st wicket has averaged 29.94.



The last time before this a team chose to field first in Bangalore. In 20 Tests since then, this is the 1st time a captain has chosen to field.