JOHANNESBURG: India were 49 for one in their second innings at stumps on the second day of the third cricket Test against South Africa, here on Thursday. Resuming their second innings trailing by just seven runs, India lost Parthiv Patel early before Murali Vijay and KL Rahul steadied the ship. India now lead South Africa by 42 runs with nine wickets in hand and three full days play still remaining. Hashim Amla (54) and Vernon Philander (13) went undivided when the umpires called an end to the second session of play, with the hosts trailing by 44 runs to India’s first innings score of 187. Resuming the post-lunch session at 81/3, the Proteas witnessed a mini collapse with the wickets of AB de Villiers (5), skipper Faf du Plessis (8) and stumper Quinton de Kock (8) in quick succession to be reduced to 125/6. The in-form de Villiers, who escaped a plumb lbw decision on the very first over after lunch from Ishant Sharma, failed to cash in on the opportunity with Bhuvneshwar Kumar castling his middle stick with a big in swinger. The dismissal of de Williers brought in du Plessis, who started well by cracking Jasprit Bumrah for aboundary before the same bowler came back to clip his off-stump as the Proteas tottered at 107/5. Bumrah jolted the hosts immediately with the wicket of de Kock, Smartly caught behind by Parthiv Patel even as Amla Survived a few close lbw calls to reach his 37th Test half century. Amla continued to frustrate the Indian bowlers with his defiance and despite losing his partners at the other end, the right-hander looked in complete control with his footwork and timing. Earlier, South Africa lost both their overnight batsmen Dean Elgar (4) and night-watchman Kagiso Rabada (30) in morning session to head into the lunch interval at 81/3.

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