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Premier off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bagged a five-wicket haul to give India a slender first innings lead before the batsmen consolidated the position with a much-improved display in the second innings against South Africa on day two of the first cricket Test, in Mohali, on Friday.
After eking out a crucial 17-run lead courtesy Ashwin’s impressive figures of 5-51, India were 125 for two at stumps with Cheteshwar Pujara (63) and Virat Kohli (11) at the crease. The hosts have stretched the lead to 142 runs.
South Africa’s A B de Villiers showed some resistance with a gritty half-century but South Africa were dismissed for 184 in their first innings at the I S Bindra Stadium.
India got off to a scrappy start in their second innings on the low and slow pitch.
Opener Shikhar Dhawan was dismissed early for another duck caught at second slip off an angled Vernon Philander delivery.
In their second innings, India were 13 for one at tea with Murali Vijay (11 batting) and Cheteshwar Pujara (2 batting) at the crease. The hosts have stretched the second innings lead to 30 runs.
Earlier, De Villiers, who managed a fighting 83-ball 63, had raised hopes of his team overpowering India's first innings total of 201, but the Indian spin force did the trick.
Ashwin was once again the leader of the pack, claiming 150 wickets in his 29th match.
Ashwin (5-51), who had sent opener Stiaan van Zyl (5) back in the pavilion on the opening day, got the prized wickets of overnight batsmen Dean Elgar (37) and Hashim Amla (43) and followed it up by scalping Dane Vilas (1) and Imran Tahir (4).
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja also contributed with three wickets while Amit Mishra bagged two, including the all-important scalp of De Villiers.
With the visitors in trouble at 127 for five at lunch, Jadeja struck in the sixth over of the second session to send Philander (3) back in the pavilion with Ajinkya Rahane taking a sharp catch at first slip.
Though the umpire referred the decision upstairs, it was clear that the ball was legitimate and the catch clean.
The session then saw a 34-run seventh-wicket partnership before Simon Harmer (7) departed, trapped LBW off Mishra. The leg-spinner had another chance of getting a wicket a ball later but failed to take a return catch from new-man Dale Steyn's full-blooded hit.
After surviving a few anxious moments in the middle, De Villiers got into his own to hit six boundaries. He got to his 37th Test fifty with a whack off Jadeja through the mid-wicket region.
Steyn's 14-ball innings was ended when he strolled out of his crease only to be foxed by Mishra's googly and stumped by Wriddhiman Saha.
The big moment came for India in the 64th over when Mishra castled De Villiers on a delivery that came a bit quicker off the leg-spinner's hand.
Earlier, starting on their overnight score of 28 for two, Amla and Elgar mixed caution and aggression to make steady progress on a slow wicket. The duo batted with poise and vigilance to stitch a 76-run third-wicket partnership against a bowling attack that was backed by close in fielders.
If leg-spinner Amit Mishra operated with a slip, leg-slip and short-leg, then Ashwin, who was introduced into the attack in the ninth over of the day, put pressure with two slips and a silly point to start with.
Elgar was dropped by Saha, albeit a tough chance for the wicketkeeper, after the ball skid through the bat's edge and Mishra's first genuine LBW appeal against Elgar was also turned down by Umpire Kumar Dharamsena.
Ashwin also tested Amla with his flight and one of them caught the right-hander's inside edge only to fall short of leg-slip. The batsmen on their part kept squeezing in the occasional boundaries to keep the scoreboard ticking in a game where even a 50-run lead would be crucial.
Ashwin finally got Elgar, who was the opening day hero with a four-wicket haul, to commit an error after the left-hander tried to slog-sweep against the turn and ended up giving away a catch to backward point. Elgar's hard-working 123-ball stay at the wicket was laced with just two boundaries.
AB De Villiers got a lucky reprieve in the 25th over of the day after Ravindra Jadeja induced an outside edge of the star player's bat and Virat Kohli took a clean catch but replays showed that the left-arm spinner had overstepped the popping crease.
De Villiers had nearly walked back to the pavilion when the umpires stopped him and repeated replays confirmed the no-ball, much to the visiting team's delight.
But that joy was shortlived as Amla, who had batted well during his 97-ball stay, was stumped off Ashwin in the very next over.
Three deliveries later Ashwin also got Vilas back in the pavilion to leave the visitors struggling