Bengaluru: Ravichandran Ashwin struck twice in his very first over as India dominated the proceedings by reducing South Africa to 78 for three at lunch on the opening day of the second cricket Test, here on Saturday.
At lunch, opener Dean Elgar (38 batting) was in company of AB de Villiers (19 batting), who is playing his 100th Test match, as the duo added 33 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket stand.
Elgar so far faced 79 balls and hit two fours and a six while De Villiers had two fours in his 27-ball unbeaten knock.
Ashwin (2/21) and Varun Aaron (1/28) shared the spoils in the first session which belonged to the home team despite Elgar's resolute fight and some classy shots by De Villiers after Virat Kohli opted to field.
The Tamil Nadu off-spinner was introduced into the attack in the eighth over after Stuart Binny hardly troubled the openers after being entrusted with the duty of sharing the new ball with Ishant Sharma.
Ashwin immediately got into the act with twin strikes in his very first over. It took him only two balls to draw the first blood for India. He flighted one that straightened after pitching and caught opener Stiaan van Zyl (10) plumb in-front.
The ball was hitting the middle stump.
Faf du Plessis (0) wanted to use his feet as Ashwin altered the length but as he came down and tried to whip one, Cheteshwar Pujara at short-leg took a reflex catch crouching low as the visitors were reduced to 15 for two in eight overs.
While third umpire adjudged it as clean catch, TV replays showed that part of the ball was touching the ground.
