If Mohali was a nightmare for batsmen, Nagpur was no different! The pitch laid out at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur was similar to the minefield laid out at Mohali. With the fair bit of cracks and uneven bounce, batting was always going to be difficult. To compound the woes for the batsmen, the pitch also assisted tremendous reverse swing, which Morne Morkel exploited duly. His spell in the second session was simply breathtaking, and he bowled his heart out. The hosts were bowled out for 215, and that was mainly due to able contributions from Saha and Jadeja down the order.
With the pitch just getting worse, South Africa will indeed have to bat out of their skins to yield a positive outcome for themselves. Below, are the twitter reactions for the first day’s play.
Steyn, Philander and now Morkel too? Like India, even the Proteas may have one pacer in this Test if Morkel doesn’t recover. #INDvsSA
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) November 25, 2015
Wicket!!! Ashwin anna on the start right away!!! @ashwinravi99 wicket in his 1st ball in 2nd over #IndvSA #IndvsSA Great start!!!
— Ashwin ❤ (@ashwin_fans) November 25, 2015
van Zyl is not an opener SA! Get your head around that fact please… #IndvsSA
— SA Sports Blog (@sasportsblog) November 25, 2015
Bowled Ashwin Caught Rahane. Inevitable, no? Van Zyl gone. #IndvsSA
— Anirudh Eswaran (@LWOS_Anirudh) November 25, 2015
That’s 2 full overs and Ishant has kept his new pony in tact. Much improved bowler indeed #INDvSA #IndvsSA @IExpressSports
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) November 25, 2015
Who says SA under-utilise Imran Tahir. Here. He’s batting one down. Happy now? #IndvsSA
— Shirin Sadikot (@ShirinSadikot) November 25, 2015
And the good partnership of Rahane and Ashwin continues… 😉 #IndvsSA
— Minidurai (@MiniduraiN) November 25, 2015
Another 3 day Test in hand it seems.. #IndvsSA ..but Amla.
— indrasish roy (@indrasishroy) November 25, 2015
It is just bad sending a night watchman.. You are effectively one more wicket down already #INDvsSA #ProteaFIRE
— Zulfiqar Ali Soomro (@zeetweets_) November 25, 2015
Nagpur making its presence felt #IndvsSA
— MOHNISH (@monutweetstasty) November 25, 2015
Wow. Tahir is happy to drive Ashwin against the spin? Noght watchman or a pinch-hitter? #IndvsSA
— Suneer (@suneerchowdhary) November 25, 2015
If gud batsmen unable to play in pitches then Where is the “TEST” Let us not make the taste of TEST bitter..Keep the taste Natural #IndvsSA
— Asif Ali (@skasifali) November 25, 2015
Nothing has changed all the three first innings in the Test series so far #IndvsSA
— Gururaj Bhatia (@gururajbhatia) November 25, 2015
It was 9 years ago that South Africa lost two or more tests in an away test series. 2006 vs Sri Lanka #IndvsSA #cricket
— #UsmaN KhaN #USK (@SkyLiveCricket) November 25, 2015
Each of the top-8 Indian players have faced at least 20 balls. #IndvsSA #cricket
— #UsmaN KhaN #USK (@SkyLiveCricket) November 25, 2015