The fate of a Test match gets decided session by session. The first session belonged to India, the mid-session belonged to both the teams and the final session is when South Africa bounced back in the game. This, in essence, was the summary of the first day of the first Test between South Africa and India at the Newlands Cricket Stadium on Friday. The hosts managed to eke out 286 before reducing the visitors to 28/3 at stumps.

All doubts about the track - green, light green, somewhat green - were laid to rest on the morning of the game when South Africa won the toss and elected to bat first. It did come as a bit of a surprise that Faf du Plessis, the SA skipper who opted for a five-man specialist attack consisting Steyn, Morkel, Rabada, Philander and Maharaj, made India bowl first.

The wicket did begin to settle down after the first 10-odd overs, as was evident when a charged-up AB de Villiers (65), in the company of Faf (62), began freeing his arms. Much to vex an attack that gave a feeling of having grabbed the opposition by the scruff, the two put together a 114-run stand to give themselves the breather. But such was the neat line that India maintained that neither did the partnership last long nor the rest of the line-up, barring Quinton de Kock's counter-attacking 43 off 40 balls.

However, it was the dismissal of Virat Kohli that made South Africa smile benignly for the first time throughout the day. The last of the wickets to fall, the India captain certainly didn't seem in place to play the Morkel delivery and was back for a mere five runs.