Visakhapatnam, Oct 4: South Africa skipper Faf du Plessis joined forces with Dean Elgar to come to the team's rescue on Day 3 of the ongoing Test against India being played at the ACA-VDCA Stadium. At Lunch on Friday, the Proteas were placed 153-4 with Elgar and du Plessis batting on 76 and 48 respectively.
Earlier, starting the day at 39/3, the visitors lost overnight batsman Temba Bavuma who was caught plumb in front on his individual score of 18. The big swinging in-dipper from Ishant Sharma kept low and caught Bavuma in front of the wickets.
However, from there on Elgar and du Plessis stitched together an unbeaten 90-run partnership to take Proteas out of hot waters and ensure that no further wickets were lost in the session.
Both the experienced South African batsmen batted brilliantly against the four Indian bowlers, especially the two spinners -- R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Not only did the duo tackle the main threats but they also took calculated risks and kept the scoreboard ticking.
The visitors added 114 runs in the session and are still trailing by 349 runs in reply to India's 502/7.
Brief scores: India 502/7 declared in first innings; South Africa 153/4 (Dean Elgar 76*, Faf du Plessis 48*, R Ashwin 2/51)