Twitter Reactions: India on the backfoot as South Africa rip apart Indian top order after scoring 286

The Indian tour of South Africa kicked off in Cape Town. Day one saw some stupendous cricketing action between both the teams. While the Indian bowlers tried to dominate and put pressure onto the South Africans, the Proteas batsmen managed to post a substantial total on the board. However, South Africa had the last laugh.

It was skipper Faf du Plessis who won the toss as South Africa surprisingly elected to bat first. Dale Steyn was back in action after a prolonged absence due to injury. As for India, Rohit Sharma was preferred over Ajinkya Rahane. Jasprit Bumrah was handed his first Test cap.

Batting first, the Proteas were on the backfoot in the very first over. Dean Elgar edged one to Saha as Bhuvneshwar Kumar drew the first blood. The right arm medium pacer bowled a splendid first spell. He struck again in his second over as Aiden Makram was adjudged lbw.

Hashim Amla was soon dismissed as Bhuvneshwar ripped apart South African top order. The home side was reduced to 12/3 as skipper Faf du Plessis took guard. Just when it seemed, the Proteas would fold up, AB de Villiers played a magnificent innings. He and the skipper managed to recover the hosts to 107/3 by the end of first session.

While AB got out for 65 runs, Faf scored 62. As South Africa were reduced to 142/5, Quinton de Kock and Vernon Philander combined for a 60-run partnership. The tail continued to wag late and trouble India. The likes of Keshav Maharaj and Kagiso Rabada made vital contributions.

South Africa ended up posting a total of 286 all out. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the pick amongst the bowlers picking four wickets. He missed out on a fifer as Dhawan dropped Keshav Maharaj on duck. Ravichandran Ashwin got a couple of wickets. The trio of Mohammed Shami, Hardik Pandya and Jasprit Bumrah got a wicket each.

As for India, they were off to a really poor start as Murali Vijay tried to play a wide delivery, ended up getting caught by Elgar. If that was a poor shot, then Shikhar Dhawan ended up skying a shot to Dale Steyn with a nothing shot. Indian skipper Virat Kohli was dismissed by Morne Morkel as they were reduced to 28/3 at stumps on day one.

Twitter was at it’s best as the momentum kept shifting between both teams. However, the day belonged to South Africa who managed to contain the Indian top order after scoring 286. Twitterati went from lauding Bhuvneshwar to trolling Shikhar Dhawan, from lauding AB to trolling the Indian batting.

Here we have some of the amazing Twitter reactions from Day 1: