Centurion: Jasprit Bumrah dismissed skipper Dean Elgar early before lunch after India were folded for 327 runs, thanks to Lungi Ngidi's six-for here at SuperSport Park on Tuesday.
South Africa are 21-1 and will resume the proceedings after lunch. Aiden Markram (9 batting) and Keegan Petersen (11 batting) were at the crease.
Both Mohammed Siraj and Bumrah have been hitting hard lengths and it would be a tall order for the Proteas to survive their spell.
Earlier, after a stupendous performance on the first day, thanks to the century from KL Rahul (123), and the subsequent washout on the second day, India crumbled on the third as they finished their first innings at 327 runs.
The second-highest scorer for the team was Mayank Agarwal with 60 runs whereas Ajinkya Rahane, whose free-flowing strokes came into appreciation from critics, couldn't contribute much on the third day and fell to Ngidi for 48 runs.
For South Africa, Lungi Ngidi took six wickets and the team's bowling spearhead Kagiso Rabada dismissed three Indian batsmen.
Lungi Ngidi bowled a fiery morning spell to run through the Indian middle-order. On a pitch spruced up by second day's persistent rainfall, Lungi made full use of the underlying moisture to finish with figures of 6 for 71 in 24 overs as India lost 7 wickets for 55 runs starting from an overnight score of 272 for 3.
Ngidi did get a lot of support from Kagiso Rabada, whose 3 for 72 also had centurion KL Rahul (123)'s wicket.
Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin and Shardul Thakur were dismissed at 8, 4, 4.
The morning belonged to Ngidi and Rabada as the Supersport Park track stayed true to its reputation of quickening up as time progressed.
The bounce was more and the length that Rabada and Nigidi bowled consistently was a touch fuller compared to first day.
Unlike the opening day, the two overnight batters Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane (48) didn't get anything short or wide to get going first up.
It was Rabada, who drew the first blood on the day with a well directed short ball aimed at Rahul's rib-cage.
The batter simply couldn't manage the pull-shot and the tickle landed in Quinton de Kock's gloves.
In case of Rahane, Ngidi hadn't provided enough length for the drive and the ball reared up from length to take his edge and into keeper's gloves.
Jasprit Bumrah showed resilience and is clearly a much-improved batter. He scored 14 runs.
Brief Scores:
India: 327 all out in 105.3 overs (K L Rahul 123, Mayank Agarwal 60; Lungi Ngidi 6/72, Kagiso Rabada 3/72).
South Africa: 21/1 in 7 overs (Aiden Markram 9 batting, Keegan Petersen 11 batting; Jasprit Bumrah 1/12).
(With inputs from agencies)
