Ranchi: India established another position of absolute dominance on the second day at Ranchi.
Rohit Sharma’s maiden Test double hundred, Ajinkya Rahane’s first home ton in three years, and a record breaking blitz from Umesh Yadav helped India set a total of 497/9, before a ferocious new-ball burst from India’s quicks saw off both South Africa’s openers before stumps.
Rohit and Rahane’s stand was ended at 267, having rescued India from 39/3 on the first day, with the latter becoming George Linde’s maiden Test wicket. However, the sharp turn and bounce would have encouraged India’s spinners.
Rohit continued to plough on, eventually finishing with 212 off 255 balls, his knock laced with 28 fours and six sixes, before he holed out to Lungi Ngidi off Kagiso Rabada. From that point on, a series of smaller partnerships carried India towards 500.
Wriddhiman Saha contributed 24 before having his stumps disturbed by a slider from Linde, Ravindra Jadeja brought up his second consecutive half-century before nicking off to Linde a ball after, and Ravichandran Ashwin was sharply stumped off Dane Piedt by Heinrich Klaasen.
Umesh might only have lasted 10 balls, but his innings left quite the impression. He smashed sixes off his first two balls and five in all, with his eventual 31 the fastest 30-plus score in Test history. Mohammed Shami had time to strike a six of his own before Virat Kohli decided he’d seen enough and called his team back in.
It seemed like both quicks were fired up from their explosive performances, with each striking in their first overs. Shami nicked off Dean Elgar second ball while an Umesh bouncer accounted for Quinton de Kock. Shahbaz Nadeem had time to get through two tidy overs, his first in Test cricket, before bad light drew an early stumps, with India comprehensively on top once more.