South Africa lost eight wickets in their first innings before lunch on the second day of the third Test against India at Nagpur, and two more in their second innings to finish the day at 32/2. In between, India batted again and put up 173, setting the tourists an extremely challenging target of 310 to win on a rank turner.

Twenty wickets fell in the entire day, equalling the highest number of wickets to fall in a day of Test cricket in India. After South Africa were shot out for 79, India batted reasonably better. Murali Vijay was out early, but Shikhar Dhawan and Cheteshwar Pujara stitched a decent partnership together with both batsmen getting thirties. However, once spin was introduced the inevitable meltdown started as the hosts lost their last eight wickets for just 76 runs.

South Africa batted again and looked comfortable against pacer Ishant Sharma. However, once off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was brought on, the tables started turning. Stiaan van Zyl holed out trying to drive, while leg-spinner Amit Mishra had night-watchman Imran Tahir leg-before-wicket with the first ball of his spell. The Proteas need 278 more runs to win with eight wickets in hand to preserve their nine-year unbeaten run in away series.