Rain washes out second day’s play in Bengaluru Test

India, who lead the four-match series 1-0, will resume on 80 for no loss after South Africa were dismissed for 214 in their first innings.

However, Amla is hopeful on Dale Steyn recovery in time for the next Test match which is played in Nagpur starting on November 25 and it is third test match in the series. De Villiers will probably be a little bit irritated with himself he didn’t get a ton in his 100th Test, but he was running out of partners and had to crank up the tempo.

With not much turn compared to the Mohali deck, Ashwin said that bowling on the Bengaluru track was trickier.

Ashwin got the initial wickets to justify captain Virat Kohli’s decision to bowl while Jadeja took charge later. “We could have batted better in the first innings, but we didn’t, and somewhere along the line in India’s second innings, we let slip 50-100 runs with the ball”. Ashwin finished with four for 70 to build on his eight-wicket match haul in the first Test.

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. He flighted one that straightened after pitching and caught opener Stiaan van Zyl (10) plumb in-front.

Jadeja’s first wicket was that of Dean Elgar immediately after lunch as the left-hander went for a sweep, only to glove it on to the stumps after making a fighting 38.

The Proteas were never able to put a decent partnership together, their best being the 42 for the fifth wicket between De Villiers and JP Duminy. The visitors also dropped off-spinner Simon Harmer, bringing in a fit-again Morkel, fellow paceman Kyle Abbott and all-rounder Duminy. The hosts wrapped up the game within three days which saw as many as 40 wickets fall. “There were far too many soft dismissals from us” he said.

Earlier, South Africa crossed the 200-mark for the first time in the series before being all out for a below-par total with de Villiers exhibiting the kind of decisive footwork that was missing from his team mates.

De Villiers hit 11 boundaries and a six, having walked in at 45-3 to generous applause from a few 23,000 fans who regard him as one of their own due to his stint with the Bangalore team in the Indian Premier League.