India 35/1 at lunch in 2nd innings, lead South Africa by 106 runs
Visakhapatnam, Oct 5: Indian settled for a 71-run first innings lead after the last two South African wickets added 55 crucial runs to end their innings at 431 all out on fourth day morning of the first Test here on Saturday.
South Africa, resuming the day at 385 for eight, batted for 13.2 overs in the morning and scored valuable 46 runs, courtesy debutant Senuran Muthusamy, who remained unbeaten on 33 off 106, and Kagiso Rabada, who hit three welcome boundaries in his 15-run cameo.
India batted for close to an hour in the morning session and were 35 for one at lunch in 14 overs.
Rohit Sharma (25 of 33) and Cheteshwar Pujara (2 off 20) were in the middle, extending their lead to 106 runs.
Keshav Maharaj dismissed first innings double centurion Mayank Agarwal (7) with a classical left-arm spinner delivery which turned and bounce enough to take the edge for a simple catch at first slip.
The odd ball may be turning sharply and keeping low but the pitch still remains a good one for batting.
India will have to score at a brisk rate to post a secured target for South Africa and give enough time to their bowlers to bowl out the opposition on day five.
The hosts would have been better placed if they did not allow South African tail to get some handy runs in the first hour of play.
The 10th wicket stand between Muthusamy and Rabada fetched 35 runs.
Ravichandran Ashwin (7/145), who picked up his 27th five-wicket haul on Friday, added two more to his tally to end the innings with 349 Test scalps.
Maharaj (9 off 31) was caught in the deep after he tried to hit Ashwin out of the park. The last man to be dismissed was Rabada, who missed a slider from Ashwin to be adjudged leg before wicket.
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Siddaramaiah and I have come to understanding, we will abide by it: Shivakumar
Karwar (Karnataka) (PTI): Not willing to make any direct statement on whether there will be a chief minister change in the state, Karnataka Deputy CM D K Shivakumar on Friday said that he and CM Siddaramaiah have come to an agreement with the involvement of the Congress high command, and both of them will abide by it.
Stating that Siddaramaiah is CM as per the high command's decision, he clarified that he has never made any comments on the former's tenure.
Siddaramaiah, earlier in the day, had affirmed that he would remain in office for his full five-year term, expressing confidence in the Congress high command's support.
During a discussion in the Assembly on the issues pertaining to North Karnataka's development, Siddaramaiah also said he never mentioned that he was the chief minister for only two-and-a-half years.
"I had never said, he (Siddaramaiah) will not be there (as CM) for five years. I have never said that the high command is not with him. As the high command is with him, he is chief minister today," Shivakumar told reporters here.
Noting that Siddaramaiah is in the post of CM as per the decision of the party, he said, "Both of us have come to an agreement, the high command has got us to an understanding, as per that both of us have discussed and have said several times that we will abide by it and go ahead."
Shivakumar, however, chose not to answer a question, whether there will be a change in the chief minister post or not.
To a question on talks about CM change, he said, "It is you (media) who is talking about it, there is no discussion among us. We will abide by what the party says."
The Deputy CM was on a visit to various temples in the Uttara Kannada district on Friday.
To a question linking his visit to the goddess Jagadeeshwari temple in Uttara Kannada district's Ankola, to his chief ministerial ambitions, Shivakumar said, "I don't want to talk about it, it is between me and the mother goddess. It is between the devotee and the deity. What I have prayed to the goddess and what she told me is between us."
He said, five years ago he had come to the temple regarding some issue concerning his family and his wish was fulfilled. "So I'm visiting the temple as a mark of gratitude and to seek blessings for me, the state and the people who believe in me. I'm going back happily."
