LIVE: Pujara, Rohit begin battle against SA seamers

Live scorecard, India vs South Africa, 1st Test, Day 2, Cape Town

Hat-trick of maidens to start Day 2

Steyn and Philander have started off with three maidens in a row. India yet to score a run on Day 2. Both Pujara and Rohit made to do a lot of hopping and fending in the crease.

Steyn to start Day 2, Rohit on strike. Here we go... What a start from Steyn, beats Rohit all ends up in the very first ball of the day.

Hello and welcome to the live coverage of Day 2 of what promises to be a fascinating Test match. Boy, the Indians have a lot to do, their fast task would be to see off the first hour without further losses. But with Rabada, Steyn, Philander and Morkel in their ranks, South Africa sure won't make that easy.

Day 1 Highlights

Indian vice-captain dropped, Bumrah debut, Steyn's comeback, if this wasn't enough drama at toss-time, Faf du Plessis decided to bat first on a Newlands track that offered plenty to the seamers.

His decision was proven wrong as early as the third delivery of the Test match when Bhuvneshwar Kumar sent South Africa's highest run scorer of 2017, Dean Elgar back in the hut for a duck. Situation worsened when Aiden Markram (5) and Hashim Amla (3) fell to the same bowler in successive overs. At 12 for 3, South Africa were fearing the worst. 

AB de Villiers then emerged as the messiah, displaying brilliant counter-attacking skills, taking Bhuvneshwar Kumar head-on. Along with du Plessis, he bailed the hosts out of a sticky situation, taking them to lunch without further damage.

In the post-lunch session, both de Villiers and du Plessis reached their half centuries but fell quickly to Bumrah and Pandya, again handing the advantage back to India. Quinton de Kock came out fighting fire with fire and hit a few breathtaking strokes before getting out to the best bowler of the day Bhuvneshwar Kumar. 

The South African tail wagged, with invaluable contributions from Vernon Philander (23), Keshav Maharaj (35) and Kagiso Rabada (26) they reached a more than respactable total of 286.

In reply, India found themselves in hot weather very early as Murali Vijay played a flashing shot off Philander to give South Africa their first wicket. 

Returning to Test match cricket after a gap of almost 2 years, Steyn hurried Dhawan into a pull shot and got him caught and bowled. 

In fading light, Morne Morkel picked up the Indian captain Virat Kohli on his first ball to geoparadise the Indian innings. At stumps, India were tottering at 28 for 3, trailing South Africa by 258 runs.