Chasing a total of 241 at Wanderers, South Africa got off to a dismal start as Aiden Markram departed for 4, with Mohammed Shami taking him by surprise with a short ball.
But, it was Dean Elgar who was tested by some vicious short balls from Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah.
The first short ball bowled by Kumar went on to hit him in the thumb, while Bumrah’s struck him right on the face.
This prompted the umpires and referees to have a discussion on whether it is safe to continue to play. Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis headed to the referee’s room for some serious discussion over the playing conditions.
The play could have resumed if both the captains would have come to a conclusion.
With ten minutes of day’s play remaining, it started to drizzle, forcing the groundsmen to put the covers on and call it a day. The good news, however, is that the game will resume on Saturday as scheduled.
The move from South African batsmen drew irk from a larger section of fans specially Indians. Indian legend Sunil Gavaskar went to the extent of calling them sissy on air.
However, South Africa ended the day on 17/1, with Proteas still needing 224 more to win.
Meanwhile, at the start of the day’s play, India lost two wickets in the first five overs of the morning but Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli showed resolve in difficult conditions to add 43 runs for the fourth wicket before Vijay was bowled by Kagiso Rabada with the last ball before lunch.
Ajinkya Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar kept their cool and batted sensibly after Kohli’s dismissal and took India’s score to 240.
Morne Morkel, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada took 3-3 wickets each, while Lungi Ngidi took 1 wicket.