Delhi: South Africa has strengthened its hold on the third day of the second Test match against Australia. Thanks to captain Temba Bavuma's brilliant inning of 179 runs, South Africa declared the innings after scoring 425 runs in the first innings. In reply, Australia lost their first wicket by the end of the day's play, while their score was 3 runs. Now the visiting team is 422 runs behind South Africa.

Temba Bavuma played captaincy innings

South Africa did not have a good start on the third day and the team lost early wickets. At one time the team's score was 6 wickets for 151 runs. In such difficult times, Bavuma took the responsibility and batted with patience. Facing 334 balls, he scored 179 runs with the help of 18 fours and one six.

Bavuma made the opposition bowlers yearn for wickets for a long time. His brilliant batting took South Africa out of the difficult situation and put it in a strong position.

Important partnership between Marco Yansen and Bavuma

Marco Yansen also performed well in batting. Adopting an aggressive style, he completed his half-century in 43 balls. There was an important partnership between Jansenen and Bavuma, which took the team's score forward rapidly. Even after Yansen was out, Bavuma did not let his focus wander. Played an inning of 85 runs with Yansen and made a partnership of more than 100 with Bavuma.

Simon Harmer also supported

Simon Harmer (82) also supported Bavuma well. Both the batsmen together troubled the Australian bowlers a lot and took the team's score beyond 400. Harmer also scored a half-century and helped South Africa score a big score.

Bavuma was finally caught out by Alex Carey off the ball of Mitchell Starc. After this, South Africa declared the innings at the loss of 9 wickets for 425 runs in 127.1 overs. Boland took maximum 5 wickets for Australia.

Australia's bad start

To answer the target, the Australian team batted only four overs, but lost the first wicket during this period. By the end of the day's play, Australia's score was one wicket for 3 runs. Travis Head and Scott Boland were present at the crease, while Nick Maddison returned to the pavilion without opening the account. Kagiso Rabada made him his victim. The biggest challenge before the team on the fourth day will be to reduce South Africa's lead by saving wickets.