Indian batsmen capitulated meekly against both pace and spin to be shot out for 215 before hitting back at South Africa with two early scalps on day one of the third Test on Wednesday.
The home team, leading 1-0 in the series, once again fell back on their spin force to dismiss opener Stiaan van Zyl for a duck and Imran Tahir (4), who came in as a nightwatchman, before the visitors ended the day at 11 for two after 9 overs at the VCA ground at Jamtha.
Openers Dean Elgar (7) and captain Hashim Amla (0) were at the crease to face Indian spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who tasted early blood by plucking a wicket apiece to threaten mayhem on a spinning track.
Earlier, on a pitch that offered plenty of turn to the spinners and reverse swing to fast bowler Morne Morkel, the home team batsmen came a cropper after opting to bat first and were gasping at 125 for 6 before the tail wagged and took the total past the 200-mark.
In-form opener Murali Vijay top scored with an innings of 40, while wicketkeeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha (32) and Ravindra Jadeja (34) revived the tottering innings briefly. Cheteshwar Pujara (21) and skipper Virat Kohli (22) got decent starts only to throw them away.
For South Africa the early damage was done by lanky pacer Morkel, who grabbed a superb 3 for 35 in three spells before limping off the field after bowling the first ball of his fourth. His wicket-taking spells, the second and third, read 4-2-8-1 and 4-2-8-2.
Off spinner Simon Harmer, dropped from the team in the drawn Bengaluru Test after playing in the series opener at Mohali, supported him with a fine haul of 4 for 78, by getting good purchase off the turning track.
There were only two significant partnerships in the Indian innings — 50 between openers Vijay and Dhawan and 48 between Saha and Jadeja.
The Indian innings got off to a fine start when Vijay, who struck a six and 3 fours in his 84-ball knock, and Dhawan (12) put on their second successive half century stand of the series.
Dhawan, denied strike for long, was lured out by Elgar soon after the 50 was raised in 13.4 overs and spooned a drive back to the left arm slow bowler who accepted a return catch to his right.
The left hander's 12 came off 23 balls and 68 minutes and was his third low score in the series after bagging a pair in the opening Test at Mohali followed by an unbeaten 45 in the rained out second game at Bengaluru.
The batsmen dismissed, mostly to poor shots, were Pujara (21), skipper Virat Kohli (22), Ajinkya Rahane (13) and Rohit Sharma, who did not play in the first two Tests. Morkel, who got rid of Vijay in the first session, added the wickets of Kohli and Rahane to his kitty in a fiery third spell of 4-2-8-2.
Pujara was taken out by off spinner Simon Harmer who trapped him leg before and later got rid of a struggling Rohit Sharama (2) as India slumped to 125 for 6 from 50 for no loss in 32.2 overs on either side of lunch and then made a recovery of sorts.
Wicketkeeper Saha (32) and Jadeja (34) then repaired the damage with a stand of 48 in 106 balls.
When South Africa replied, Ravichandran Ashwin again opened the bowling and sent back left hander van Zyl with a sharply turning ball that caught the edge and was pouched by slip fielder Ajinkya Rahane.
Imran Tahir, who narrowly escaped a stumping appeal off Ashwin, was then bowled comprehensively by Jadeja as he played back to a ball that straightened after pitching and hit the off stump.
Brief Scores
India: 215 (Vijay 40, Harmer 4/78, Morkel 3/35) lead South Africa: 11/2 by 204 runs.
‘top-order batting was below-par’
New Delhi: Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar on Wednesday criticised the performance of India's top-order batsmen save Murali Vijay terming their effort as "below-par" despite the pitch being a tricky one.
Asked about how would he rate the performance of the specialist batsmen with India scoring 215 in their first innings, Gavaskar told NDTV:"It was below par apart from Murali Vijay, who got a top class delivery. The other batsmen were out playing shots which one would not play when they are confident and among runs."
"Vijay is among runs and that is why he is such a good leaver of the deliveries outside off-stump. He is confident of his off-stump," Gavaskar said.
However, considering the nature of the pitch, Gavaskar called 215 a "good score" although he refused to put it at par with a 400 plus score on a better pitch.
"215 is a good score. Normally, days 1 & 2 are the best for batting but if you say that it is as good as 400, may be that's not quite right. Since 215 is the highest score in an innings so far, a lot of credit should go to Jadeja and Saha's partnership, Had they not scored those runs (48), then India would be all out for 175."