India 1-181 (Murali Vijay 91*, Cheteshwar Pujara 58*, Shikhar Dhawan 29, Morne Morkel 1-26) vs. South Africa
Murali Vijay along with the man in form, Cheteshwar Pujara, guided India to a comfortable position against South Africa on the opening day of the 2nd Test.
The first day’s play was restricted to 61 overs when bad light stopped the continuation of the game while the tourists smashed 181 runs for the loss of just one wicket.
The second and final Test of the series commenced on Thursday, December 26, 2013, at Kingsmead, Durban.
Earlier, MS Dhoni, the captain of India, won the toss and made no hesitation in batting first. The innings was opened by Shikhar Dhawan along with Murali Vijay and they started off nicely by scoring 38 runs in 10 overs with the assistance of 6 fours. The first was caught smartly by Alviro Petersen at third slip off Morne Morkel for 29 as the score reached 41.
Cheteshwar Pujara joined in next with Vijay who was cruising well at the other end. The duo kept on consolidating with regular boundaries and the score crossed the hundred runs mark in the 30th over. Murali Vijay achieved his fourth Test fifty four overs later and was flourishing boundaries at will. Cheteshwar Pujara attained his fourth Test half century in the 52nd over with a four and carried on batting with his style. He remained unbeaten for 58 whereas Vijay secured his end with an aggressive knock of 91 comprising 17 fours. The visitors thrashed 181 with nine wickets still in hand when play was called off for the day due to poor light.
India took off brilliantly on the first day and they can pile up a huge first innings score with a lot of batting still to follow.
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