Contrary to the widespread perception on social media about the nature of pitch at the ACA Stadium, hosting its first ever Test match, it turned out to be another typical sub-continental first day wicket with the surface playing true to its nature, and the variable bounce from the pacers keeping the South African batters in check early on before the spinners played their part, with Kuldeep Yadav accounting for three wickets to restrict the Proteas to 247/6 at stumps.

Unlike the fiery opening stand witnessed in Kolkata in the series opener, the unusual 9 am in Guwahati initially aided the quicker bowlers even as the South African top order almost successfully negotiated the threat in the first two sessions before Kuldeep and Ravindra Jadeja exploited the conditions later in the day.

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