Ind vs SA, 1st Test, Day 1, Stumps: SA lose 2 wkts, trail by 178

South Africa's part-time spinner Dean Elgar enjoyed bowling at the Mohali track, which had a lot of cracks. He picked four, as India lost wickets in regular intervals. The hosts were bowled out for 201.

Elgar celebrates after picking up a wicket.

India bounced back into the game taking two early wickets, with South Africa ending the day at 28 for two trailing the hosts by 173 runs. Hashim Amla (9) and opener Dean Elgar (13) are at the crease.

Spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja struck for India after they were bowled out for 201 in the first innings. Earlier, South Africa's part-time spinner Dean Elgar picked four wickets, bowling on a track that looked dry. He picked the crucial wickets of Pujara (31) and Rahane (15) and also got Saha out for a first-ball duck.

Imran Tahir and Vernon Philander picked two wickets each and Simon Harmer and debutant Kagiso Rabada shared one each. Only opener Murali Vijay (75), Ravindra Jadeja (38), and Cheteshwar Pujara (31) offered some resistance, as the rest of the batsmen scored less than 25. Ravichandran Ashwin was the last man standing at 20. Six of them got out for single-digit scores, including three ducks.

South Africa grabbed the first wicket before a run had been scored when Shikhar Dhawan hung his bat out to a swinging ball from Vernon Philander and edged a catch to skipper Hashim Amla at first slip.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Vijay retrieved the situation with a 63-run partnership for the second wicket when Dean Elgar stepped up with the ball and, an over later, with a low catch to make it 65 for 3. Elgar, an opening batsman and part-time left-arm spinner, trapped Pujara leg-before for 31 with his fourth delivery when he was summoned by Amla to bowl the 22nd over.

Four balls later, Elgar dived in the covers to remove Indian captain Virat Kohli, giving debutant fast bowler Kagiso Rabada his first Test wicket. Kohli, celebrating his 27th birthday, made only one.

India went in with three spinners and two fast bowlers on a dry pitch that is expected to break up as the match progresses. The Proteas were without the injured Morne Morkel for the first match in the four-Test series, allowing 20-year-old Rabada to make his debut. Rabada joined Dale Steyn and Philander in a three-man pace attack, supported by two specialist spinners in leg-spinner Imran Tahir and off-break bowler Simon Harmer.

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