Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar admitted that the bowling attack gave away 30 runs too many as South Africa reached 286 in their first innings despite being reduced to 12 for 3 within the first half an hour.
"If we want to be hard on ourselves, then yes we did give away a few too many runs to South Africa. I think they scored 25-30-odd extra runs. In every hour of play, there were 2-3 overs, where we gave away easy boundaries. That is an area we can improve on," Bhuvneshwar said at the end of the day's play.
South Africa maintained a run-rate of over four runs per over before ending at 3.90 in 73.1 overs.
"It is a concern for us. During the break also, we were talking about bringing the run-rate down because in Test cricket four runs per over is a lot. This is something we want to improve when we bowl in the second innings but overall we are happy with the lines and lengths we bowled," he added.
Bhuvneshwar finished with figures of 4 for 87 but missed out on a five-for as Shikhar Dhawan dropped Keshav Maharaj (then on nought) at slip.
But the seamer is not at all disappointed.
"No, I am not disappointed for not taking a five-wicket haul. This is part of the game and there will be other opportunities to take five wicket hauls. Catches do win you matches and we want to improve this area," he said.
The bowler backed the slip fielders who have been under the pump for some time now.
"The slip cordon has held some great catches in the past so they will miss one or two. We do not go to bowl thinking they will not hold catches. We trust the slip cordon to hold their catches," he added.
He added that India weren't surprised that South Africa opted to bat on a green-top wicket.
"We had a feeling that they would opt to bat first. It didn't really surprise us. We wanted to bowl first after winning the toss so it was fine with us. They were good conditions to bowl first.
"The ball was seaming a lot for the first 10-15 overs. We were able to use those conditions to get first three wickets in five overs," Bhuvneshwar said.
‘De Villiers changed the momentum’
South Africa batting coach Dale Benkenstein has credited AB de Villiers for changing the momentum as South Africa managed 286 after tottering at 12 for 3 on the opening day of the first Test against India.
"At 12/3, it was not the best feeling as a batting coach. I was thinking of taking an Uber and leaving for the hotel because I didn't know how we were going to score runs on this wicket," Benkenstein said.
"They (India) are a quality bowling attack. The class and genius of AB and the tenacity of our captain (Faf du Plessis) changed the momentum of the game, or rather that innings (from AB)," said Benkenstein.
"That one over (when de Villiers score 17 runs off Bhuvneshwar) was a game-changer. It was definitely the genius of AB. You cannot tell him how to bat as a coach. It made the bowlers worry about their lengths and that partnership of 100 runs got us back in the game. It brought belief back in the change room," he said.
South Africa were again reduced to 142 for 5 but lower middle order also contributed well.
"It was a tough decision to bat first. Conditions were such that we would have liked to play an extra batsman. With AB and Faf back, we had our top six batsmen, so we wanted to go with our best bowling attack. As a group we felt this was the best team," said the former middle-order batsman.