South Africa found a surprise bowling hero in Dean Elgar on Thursday as the top-ranked side bowled India out for 201 on the opening day of the first test.
The top-order batsman showed his utility as a left-arm spinner, upstaging two other specialist slow bowlers in the side with a haul of 4-22 as India struggled to capitalize on the advantage of batting first on a dry pitch.
South Africa, which won a preceding Twenty20 series 2-0 and a five-game ODI series 3-2, dominated the first day of the four-test series early on but got a glimpse of how things can change as Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja struck early blows.
The South African batsmen looked tentative in their 20 overs of batting as the team reached 28-2 at stumps.
Opener Stiaan Van Zyl was trapped lbw by off-spinner Ashwin as he shouldered arms while de Plessis was bowled by left-arm spinner Jadeja.
Elgar was batting on 13 at close and captain Hashim Amla on nine as the batsmen were left with the challenge of matching the team's precise bowling earlier in the day.
"This is not a good test pitch wicket though it's a result-oriented one," Elgar said. "We sort of expected it to play like that but we didn't expect it to crumble so early."
Elgar, who had only six wickets from 17 previous tests in his part-time role, struck in his first over to break a half-century partnership for the second wicket between opener Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara. Elgar bowled a delivery that went with his arm and trapped Pujara lbw for 31.
He struck again in the first over of a fresh spell after lunch when he had Ajinkya Rahane (15) caught at slip by Amla off the last ball. He was on a hat-trick when he removed Wriddhiman Saha in similar fashion for a duck with his first ball of the next over leaving India reeling on 102-5.
"I'm a little bit surprised with the outcome. It's a wicket that is assisting the spinners so it's nice to obviously bowl India out with the other four bowlers and put them on the back-foot," Elgar said.
Elgar also accounted for Amit Mishra even as leg-spinner Imran Tahir got two late wickets after being introduced to the attack only midway into the second session because of Elgar's success.
For India, Vijay impressed with a solid 75 in which he struck 12 fours, but was adjudged lbw off spinner Simon Harmer as he went for a sweep shot.
"It's a very challenging wicket where run-making is not easy," India's batting coach Sanjay Bangar said. "It says 201 runs on the scoreboard but it's worth far more. But I think runs can be made on this wicket as Vijay showed. It's going to be a test of patience both for batsmen and bowlers."
Earlier, fast bowler Dale Steyn got appreciable movement in windy conditions, but it was Vernon Philander who claimed the early breakthrough in his first over as left-hander Shikhar Dhawan edged to Amla at first slip without scoring.
Rabada then struck in his second spell when captain Virat Kohli got a leading edge and was taken with a fine catch by Elgar in the covers as India came under pressure slipping from 63-1 to 65-3.
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