South Africa ahead after seamers shine on 11-wicket day

Kohli and Pujara have been subjected to the most intense and brutal period of fast bowling in that opening session. Luck too has run their ways.
  The day starts and In no time India was two down and under serious pressure. The ball was hoofing around corners and Philander was landing it on a string. His first spell read 8-7-1-1. Out of which four were consecutive maidens. Beat Pujara multiple times and had the Indian No. 3 tied up at his end. Unreal exhibition of swing and seam bowling from the master. At the other end, Kohli was up against Rabada and even though the Indian captain was getting beaten and hit on the pad, he was willing to take on the Pacers. Whenever there was a hint of a bad ball, he put them away and that kept the scoreboard from being dead.

@vikrantgupta73 @imVkohli @BCCI @ICC ..To play test cricket on this surface is unfair ...saw it in NZ in 2003 ...batsman have minimum chance ..icc should look into it

— Sourav Ganguly (@SGanguly99) January 24, 2018

   At the end of the second session, I will say its  South Africa's session. You can argue that they got only two wickets, but those were two big ones. Kohli and Pujara defied South Africa's attack and luck to bat out the first hour after lunch, but the former's luck ran out once he reached fifty, drove away from the body and edged it to third slip. AB de Villiers, having dropped Kohli early on, made amends by claiming the sharp catch. A returning Rahane was tentative and got a lucky escape when Philander overstepped and had him caught behind, but the Indian vice-captain soon fell to Morkel.
    India's first inning total (187) is way short of what India would have liked but given how the pitch has played and given the number of fast bowlers we have, it's still very much fightable. India's innings was all about Pujara's ridiculously good grit and Kohli's passionate statement of intent. Both were lucky, Kohli more so, but you need to be on tough pitches. And beyond that, it was the same old story of poor shot selections undoing everything that one partnership promised to achieve for India.
   A statistical breakdown of India's 187 all out:112 in boundaries: 24x4 off the bat, 4 of them edged; 4 wides x1, 4 leg-byes x1, 4 byes x 2 = 59.89% runs in boundaries.
  Lowest all-out totals for India with at least two individual 50:
165 v Eng, Leeds, 1952
171 v Aus, Chennai, 1969/70
182 v Eng, Manchester, 1974
187 v WI, Bridgetown, 1961/62
187 v SA, Joburg, 2017/18 *

STORY OF THE DAY
   Virat Kohli attacked, Cheteshwar Pujara defended and defended solidly and Bhuvneshwar Kumar applied himself in the end to score 134 runs between them. But the rest - extras included - added only 53 more as India went from 144 for 4 to 187 all out on the first day of the Wanderers Test. The tumultuous six overs South Africa faced before stumps, losing Aiden Markram to Bhuvneshwar
   Only a day has gone by but the bowlers have got exaggerated movement and ruled like kings. Tough times lie ahead for the batsmen. Will the Proteas fight fire with fire? Or will there be another surrender on display?Some fast-paced cricketing action beckons us.Join us tomorrow and if you like then share it.Till then, cheers