Markram falls in nervous 90s as SA plod on

Aiden Markram was dismissed six runs shy of his third century before tea as South Africa continued to consolidate on the first day of the second test against India at SuperSport Park in Pretoria.

For his dismissal‚ Markram’s review was unsuccesful as Ultraedge showed that the ball came off his bat and the decision remained that of the umpire‚ who originally had waved his finger for out.

By the time the tea break arrived shortly before 3pm the Proteas were sitting on 182/2 with veteran batsmen Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers going along slowly with respective scores of 35 and 16.

This is the second time in his test career that the 23-year-old Markram has been unlucky to be dismissed in the nervous 90s as he was run out on 97 on his debut against Bangladesh in Potchefstroom earlier in the year.

For his troubles‚ Markram has become the second-fastest South African to score 500 runs after five test matches after the legendary Barry Richards.

In the coming and final session of the day‚ Amla‚ who was dropped by India wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel in the 51st over on 30 runs‚ and De Villiers will be looking to occupy the crease for as long as possible to further increase South Africa’s lead.

Though South Africa lost two wickets in the second session‚ they went to lunch with 78 on the board for the loss of no wicket with Makram on 51 and his senior partner‚ Dean Elgar‚ on 26 as they responded very well to the questions that were asked by the Indian bowlers.

The first wicket to fall shortly after lunch was that of a tentative Elgar‚ who was sent back to the pavilion when he was caught by Murali Vijay at silly point from the bowling of Ashwin having scored 31 runs from 83 balls.