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CAPE TOWN: For 84.1 overs, the teams ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the world went at each other like bareknuckle prizefighters. At the end of it, South Africa — who had stumbled to 12 for three inside the first five overs — were undoubtedly the happier side, riding on half-centuries from AB de Villiers and Faf du Plessis, once classmates at Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool in Pretoria, to get to 286, and then reducing India to 28 for three by stumps. Morne Morkel claimed the biggest scalp with his very first delivery, getting Virat Kohli to fend one behind.
“Luckily our phones get taken away, otherwise I would have been looking for an Uber to get back to the hotel,” joked Dale Benkenstein, South Africa’s batting coach, as he spoke of the nightmare start. “They are a quality bowling attack and at that stage (12 for three), I was sitting there wondering how we were going to score a run. The genius of AB de Villiers and the tenacity of the captain (Du Plessis). That partnership got us back in the game and got that belief back in the changing room. I think it was just one over (from Bhuvneshwar) where AB just changed the game (with four boundaries). He made the bowlers have to worry about their lengths.”
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who had played only five of 16 home Tests over the past two seasons, was India’s bowling hero, finishing with four for 87, including the first three wickets. Dean Elgar nibbled at a ball outside his off stump, Aidan Markram was beaten by inswing, and Hashim Amla slashed at one to leave South Africa in disarray after they had chosen to bat, despite selecting four fast bowlers to accompany the lone spinner.
But instead of steady consolidation, De Villiers and Du Plessis counterattacked, thrillingly in the case of De Villiers. He struck 11 fours in an 84-ball 65, and added 114 with Du Plessis before Jasprit Bumrah, a surprise debutant, sneaked one through his bat and pad.
Du Plessis fell soon after for 62, flailing loosely at a Hardik Pandya delivery well outside his off stump. Pandya wheeled away past gully to celebrate, while Kohli was spoken to by the umpires for whispering sweet nothings to the departing batsmen. Indian temperatures had risen moments earlier when a LBW shout was turned down, and their review was unsuccessful on the basis of umpire’s call.   
Quinton de Kock played a sublime 40-ball cameo for 43 before edging Bhuvneshwar to Wriddhiman Saha, and South Africa would have been in even greater strife if Shikhar Dhawan, at third slip, hadn’t dropped Keshav Maharaj before he had scored. Maharaj went on to make 35, and the last three wickets added 65 as India’s bowlers overdid the short stuff.
In reply, Murali Vijay edged to gully, and Dhawan top-edged an injudicious pull off the returning Dale Steyn. But it was Kohli’s wicket that left South Africa with the feeling that the match was now firmly in their control.
“That’s how Test cricket is,” said a subdued Bhuvneshwar. 
“We started really well and lost our way in between. We could have bowled a little better, but we gave away 25 to 30 runs extra. AB is best in the world. His counter-attack hurt us. It’s going to be tough. We knew this is a kind of situation we’d have to tackle.”