South Africa v/s India, 2nd Test: Visitors go wicketless, Aiden Markram gives Proteas solid start

Opener Aiden Markram scored an unbeaten fifty to guide South Africa to 78 for no loss at lunch on the opening day of the second cricket Test against India in Centurion on Saturday.

At the break, Markram was batting on 51 not out, while Dean Elgar was unbeaten on 26 runs as the duo made good use of an easy-paced pitch here after skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bat.

Opening the innings, Elgar and Markram started watchfully against the new-ball pairing of Jasprit Bumrah (0-25) and Mohammed Shami (0-23).

Shami looked off-colour in his first spell once again, just like in Cape Town, conceding 23 runs off his four overs.

The new ball bowlers failed to create any chances, and Ishant Sharma (0-12) came on as first-change in the 8th over. He immediately troubled Elgar and continued to do so throughout his first spell.

Hardik Pandya (0-15) too didn’t trouble the batsmen after coming on to bowl in the 13th over. By the 20th over, when R Ashwin (0-2) was introduced into the attack, India had used up all their frontline bowlers in just over an hour’s play.

The visitors continued searching for some help off the wicket, but …read more