Sneh Rana picks up eight; Wolvaardt and Luus fight back for SA

Sneh Rana was the star of the show on Day 3, adding five more wickets to her tally from Saturday's (June 29) play and enforcing a follow-on on South Africa. Meanwhile, Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus led the fightback for the Proteas in the second innings. 

Team India began the morning session with two instant breakthroughs. Marizanne Kapp, who was looking in good shape, got beaten by extra bounce, breaking the timber and giving Rana her fourth wicket. In the same over, South African wicketkeeper Sinalo Jafta also departed for a duck while hitting the inside edge and finding Shubha Satheesh at short leg. Rana achieved her first international five-wicket haul.

Things only went downhill for the visiting side after Rana's magical over. Annerie Dercksen didn't last long on the crease either. She got deceived by Deepti Sharma's sharp spin with the ball also staying low at the same time, walking back to the dugout for five runs. Nadine de Klerk gifted Rana her sixth, putting the shot away to leg side which went straight into the hands of Rajeshwari Gayakwad at square leg.

Rana finished off the South African tail by dismissing Masabata Klaas and Nonkululeko Mlaba, becoming the second Indian woman to take eight wickets in an innings in Tests after Neetu David. The Proteas were 337 runs behind, which prompted Harmanpreet Kaur to enforce a follow-on. 

It didn't take India very long to claim the first wicket. Anneke Bosch fell early in the eighth over at the hands of Deepti, falling victim to low bounce and departing for nine runs. South Africa ended the first session with the score of 29 for 1. India struggled in the next two sessions as they went 66 overs without a wicket. Wolvaardt and Luus put 190 runs together for the second wicket, which was the Proteas' highest partnership for any wicket in Women's Test history. 

Luus, who scored 65 runs off 164 balls in the first innings, eventually reached the three-figure mark in the second innings. While batting on 109 runs, she got clean bowled by captain Kaur with the low bounce playing a key role yet again. Well-set Wolvaardt continued to stay on the crease alongside new batter Kapp. The latter survived on two occasions when Deepti dropped two catches in the last two overs of the day. 

Brief scores: South Africa 1st innings 266/10 in 84.3 overs (Marizanne Kapp 74, Sune Luus 65; Sneh Rana 8/77) and 2nd innings 232/2 in 85 overs follow-on (Sune Luus 109, Laura Wolvaardt 93*; Harmanpreet Kaur 1/24) India 1st innings 603/6d in 115.1 overs (Shafali Verma 205, Smriti Mandhana 149; Delmi Tucker 2/141). SA trail by 105 runs.