India struck early with the ball in the first session of the fourth day's play against South Africa. Mohammed Shami got rid of Amla and Rabada in quick succession while Jasprit Bumrah took care of the South African captain Faf du Plessis and Quinton de Kock to reduce the hosts at 92 for 6. Vernon Philander followed soon after as Shami caught him right in front and Bhuvneshwar Kumar got rid of Keshav Maharaj and Morne Morkel. For South Africa, AB de Villiers (35) fought a lone battle and looked good before losing his wicket, trying to up the ante. He was the last man to be dismissed as South Africa were bowled out for 130 in the second innings, giving India a target of 208 runs to win the first Test match and take a 1-0 lead in the 3-match Test series. Shami and Bumrah shared six wickets among themselves as Bhuvneshwar and Pandya gave them good support by picking up a couple of wickets each. (Live Scorecard)
Catch the live action and updates of India vs South Africa, 1st Test, Day 4 straight from Newlands, Cape Town
18:20 IST: OUT! Vernon Philander gets the big wicket of danger man Virat Kohli. Shuffled across the stumps, wanted the work the ball on the on-side, Kohli misses it and gets rapped on the knee rolls. Plumb in front of the wicket. Kohli departs for 20. India need 137 to win.
18:14 IST: Four! Rabada drifts into the pads, too full, Kohli glances the ball for a boundary down the long leg.
18:13 IST: Kagiso Rabada brought back in the attack.
18:12 IST: 20 overs have been bowled. Morkel and Philander seem to be tired as they are not firing in any wicket-taking delivery.
18:04 IST: Decent over from the pacer, concedes one run. Rohit and Kohli are playing carefully at the moment and taking India ahead in chase.
18:00 IST: Philander comes back in the attack.
17:58 IST: Four! Full delivery, Kohli leans in and beautifully drives Morkel for a boundary. It seems Kohli is getting into the rhythm.
17:45 IST: Drinks are on the field.
Drinks Break | India 52/3
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) January 8, 2018
Virat 14
RG Sharma 4#SAvIND #ProteaFire #FreedomSeries pic.twitter.com/VDyzz4PSuG
17:40 IST: Four! Rabada strays on the pads, Kohli manages to edge the ball for a boundary.
17:38 IST: Rohit Sharma is the new man in.
17:37 IST: OUT! Morne Morkel bowls a length delivery close to off stump, Pujara trying to defend, edges and Quinton de Kock takes a good catch. India are three down. South Africa are clawing back in the game.
17:32 IST: Pujara survives! Kohli plays a Rabada delivery with soft hands and calls for a quick single, Pujara, who was running towards the danger end, survived as Dean Elgar missed his mark by inches.
17:30 IST: Four! Short and wide from Rabada, Kohli guides the ball past gully to get off the mark with a boundary.
17:25 IST: Excellent start from Rabada, concedes only one run in his first over.
17:22 IST: Kagiso Rabada, right-arm fast, comes into the attack.
17:21 IST: Captain Virat Kohli is the new man in. He will be looking to amends after his poor performance in the first innings.
17:20 IST: OUT! Philander bowls his stock ball, the outswinger on a good length, Vijay looking to defend, gets an outside edge and AB de Villiers, at slips, takes an brilliant catch by diving low to his left. Murali Vijay at last ran out of luck. India lose both openers.
WICKET | Vijay out for 13 caught at second slip by de Villiers off Philander. India 30/2 #SAvIND #ProteaFire pic.twitter.com/d33ddPFFf4
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) January 8, 2018
17:15 IST: Cheteshwar Pujara is the new man in.
17:14 IST: OUT! Short delivery from Morkel, Dhawan takes his eyes off, the ball brushes the handle-glove and Chris Morris at gully takes a comfortable catch. South Africa finally gets the first breakthrough. Extra bounce from Morkel caught Dhawan off-guard.
17:08 IST: SAFE! Murali Vijay is riding his luck. Given out for an outside edge off Philander, takes a DRS immediately after the umpire rules him out. Ultra-edge shows the that noise came from the bat hitting the pad and not the ball taking an outside edge. Must be frustrating for Philander.
Shout for wicket, Vijay again wastes no time and goes for a review, he's spot on the decision is overturned. India 28/0 #SAvIND
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) January 8, 2018
17:06 IST: Four! Good length delivery just outside off stump from Philander, the ball moves away and takes an outside of Vijay's bat as the ball goes past the gully.
17:02 IST: Four! Morkel is leaking runs. Bowls on the pads, Dhawan plays very fine and beats the long leg as the ball rolls away to the boundary.
16:56 IST: Four! Dhawan looking to defend, leans forward, gets surprised by a bit of extra bounce as he edges the ball past the third slip to collect a boundary.
16:52 IST: Four! Over-pitched delivery from Morkel, Vijay gets in position early and caresses the ball through covers for the first boundary of the Indian second innings.
16:47 IST: SAFE! Murali Vijay shuffles across the stumps to guide an in-swinging delivery off Philander on the on-side, misses the ball and gets rapped on the pads. South Africa appeal in unison, on-field umpire raises the finger and Philander celebrate the wicket but India go for the review. Hawk-eye shows the ball bounced too much and missed the stumps. Umpire Richard Kettleborough over turns the decision and rules Vijay not out. Very food DRS review by India.
16:44 IST: Good, tight bowling from Morkel to start the proceedings with, concedes only one run.
16:40 IST: Morne Morkel, right-arm fast, comes into the attack
16:37 IST: Big appeal for leg before. But the umpire rules it in favour of the batsman. Vijay has the presence of mind to steal a single. India are away.
16:36 IST: Philander to start things off for South Africa with the new ball. Vijay to take strike.
16:35 IST: Welcome back in the post-lunch session. Both the Indian openers are out there in the middle. Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay would look to give India a good start in chase of 208.
16:00 IST: India need 208 runs to win the first Test match and take a 1-0 lead in the three-match Test series.
Proteas are all for 130 and the target for India is 208 #SAvIND #FreedomSeries #ProteaFire pic.twitter.com/HMxytT9ekO
— Cricket South Africa (@OfficialCSA) January 8, 2018
15:57 IST: Wicket: de Villiers goes for the big one but finds the man at the deep. Bumrah gets another one and India have bowled out South Africa for 130. Just the kind of start India needed on the fourth day. Lunch has been taken at Newlands, Cape Town.
15:51 IST: Dale Steyn is the new batsman for South Africa.
15:50 IST: Wicket! Short from Bhuvneshwar and Morkel unable to get out of the way, gives an easy to Saha. South Africa 130 for 9, lead by 207 runs.
15:48 IST: Just as we speak, de Villiers takes the aerial route and deposits Bumrah into the stands. Add six to the total.
15:45 IST: Bumrah to continue. de Villiers would look to open up a bit now. Runs are important here. A lead in excess of 250 would not be easy here.
15:42 IST: Morne Morkel is the new man in for South Africa.
15:40 IST: Wicket: Bhuvneshwar gets it to move away and Maharaj pokes at that outside off-stump, gets a thin outside edge and Saha makes no mistake.
15:38 IST: Four! Short and wide from Bhuvneshwar, Maharaj looking to slash, gets a thick outside edge as the ball rushes away to the third-man boundary.
15:37 IST: Bhuvneshwar Kumar comes in the bowling attack.
15:34 IST: Four! Short delivery from Hardik Pandya, Maharaj, on front foot, pulls it handsomely over mid-wicket.
15:31 IST: Full toss from Bumrah and de Villiers couldn't get the ball away. Missed out on a perfect opportunity.
15:29 IST: Four! Overpitched outside off, de Villiers gets forward and slams the ball wide of cover for a much needed boundary.
15:23 IST: South Africa have scored 26 runs in last 10 overs and lost four wickets.
15:18 IST: Huge LBW appeal from Shami but the on-field umpire turns down the appeal. Shami is convinced that the ball was hitting the wickets and Kohli takes the review. India lose a review as the ball was missing the leg stump by miles. Bad call from the visitors.
15:17 IST: Keshav Maharj is the new batsman in.
15:14 IST: OUT! Beautiful incoming delivery from Shami, beats the inside edge, raps on the pads and the on-field umpire raises the finger. Philander, in question, takes the review and loses it as the ball is hitting the wicket. Philander has to go for a duck. India on top of the Proteas.
15:11 IST: Philander and de Villiers are playing carefully now. And Indian bowlers are on fire.
15:05 IST: Dhawan saves a certain boundary. Full delivery from Shami, de Villiers drives it beautifully, Dhawan gets across and dives to his right to stop it.
14:57 IST: Vernon Philander is the new batsman for South Africa.
14:56 IST: Wicket: Another one bites the dust. de Kock gets an inside edge and Saha behind the stumps makes no mistake. Bumrah strikes again for India. The umpire was not sure but Kohli was convinced. Went for the review straight away. Replay suggest he got an inside edge. South Africa are in trouble now. 92 for 6, lead by 169 runs.
14:55 IST: Four! Outside edge and de Kock will get a boundary.
14:50 IST: Four! Short from Pandya and de Kock goes for the cut, gets a top edge and it flies off over the slip cordon.
14:48 IST: Hardik Pandya replaces Shami. That's a bit surprising. May be one more over from Shami to de Kock would have been good.
14:47 IST: A huge mix up between de Villiers and de Kock and a direct hit would have seen de Kock take the long walk back to the dressing room.
14:45 IST: Quinton de Kock is the new batsman.
14:44 IST: Wicket: That was an absolute jaffa from Bumrah. Pitched on and around off stump and then straightened, a bit of extra bounce and takes du Plessis's gloves on the way to the keeper. India have got off to a great start today. Not so for South Africa.
14:39 IST: Former India captain Sachin Tendulkar doesn't think any different.
Come on #TeamIndia! The match is wide open. #SAvIND
— sachin tendulkar (@sachin_rt) January 8, 2018
14:37 IST: Shami is in the middle of a very good spell. This is the important partnership. If India can get rid of one of these two players, de Villiers or du Plessis, it would be India's session. The game would be wide open.
14:35 IST: Good testing over from Bumrah comes to an end. Just one coming from it.
14:33 IST: That was a beauty from Bumrah. Squared de Villiers up altogether and it missed the bat as well. Too good a ball to take a wicket.
14:32 IST: First change of the morning. Jasprit Bumrah comes on, replaces Bhuvneshwar.
14:30 IST: Faf du Plessis is the new man in for South Africa.
14:29 IST: Wicket: Rabada's struggle comes to an end. Edges one straight to second slip where Kohli takes an easy catch. Shami picks up his second wicket of the morning. Just the start India wanted.
14:27 IST: Shami finds the edge again but falls short of gully. Rabada survives.
14:25 IST: Four! Pitched up and de Villiers worked it through his legs for a boundary. First of the morning.
14:23 IST: A big mix up between Rabada and De Villiers and Vijay throws at the wrong end. Rabada was struggling at the non-strikers end but Vijay picked the wrong man. De Villiers is quick and he would have possibly made his ground even if that would have hit the stumps.
14:21 IST: Edged and didn't carry. De Villiers playing with soft hands and it was well short of Kohli at second slip. Moral victory for Bhuvneshwar.
14:20 IST: Good probing over from Shami comes to an end.
14:18 IST: Another one from Shami beats the bat. Rabada living dangerously here.
14:17 IST: Good ball from Shami. Rabada had no clue about that one. Beats the bat and through to the keeper.
14:15 IST: South Africa 67 for 3, lead by 144 runs.
14:11 IST: AB de Villiers is the new man in for South Africa.
14:09 IST: Wicket! This is a big wicket for India. Amla going for the cut and it flies off to gully where Rohit Sharma takes a very good low catch. Amla wasn't going anywhere and the on field umpires referred it upstairs. The soft signal was out and the third umpire didn't have enough evidence to rule it in favour of the batsman since the soft signal was out. Shami gets the early breakthrough.
14:06 IST: Short from Shami and Rabada goes for the hook. Gets it away for a single.
14:04 IST: Mohammed Shami to start from the other end. Kagiso Rabada on strike.
14:04 IST: Bhuvneshwar starts off with a maiden. South Africa 65 for 2, lead by 142 runs.
14:00 IST: So players are out in the field. Bhuvneshwar Kumar to start the proceedings. Hashim Amla to take strike.
13:55 IST: Sunil Gavaskar believes that if India can restrict South Africa for less than 300, they will be pretty much in the game. Anything more than that would be difficult to chase down on the final day of the Test match.
13:50 IST: For India the first session will be very important. The visitors would look to strike early or else South Africa would run away with the match.
13:40 IST: "I had a pretty good day. First Test match, wanted to bat a lot and got the opportunity to help our team out from a difficult siuation. It always feels good and feels proud as well. From the situation we came in. Credit goes to Bhuvi as well. We almost got a hundred run partnership," says Hardik Pandya before the start of play.
13:33 IST: The sun is out and we will have extended sessions today to make up for the lost time yesterday. 98 overs to be bowled in the day.
Much better
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 8, 2018
Much brighter
Much clear
Much sunshine #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/xyqHgqm6h0
13:30 IST: Hello and welcome to the 4th day's play between India and South Africa. The weather has cleared out and we are all set for some action.
On day one, South Africa were bowled out for 286 runs in the first innings with Bhuvneshwar taking 4-87. India were reduced to 28/3 at stumps.
On day two, India finished with 209 runs in their first innings, surrendering a 77-run lead. South Africa were 65/2 at stumps with an overall lead of 142 runs. Hardik Pandya single-handedly kept his side in contention with 93 runs off 95 balls and then took 2-17 as well.
Dale Steyn, on his comeback to Test cricket, suffered a heartbreaking heel injury whilst bowling during the Indian first innings. He has been ruled out of the remainder of this Test, and the series as a result.