Johannesburg: Cheteshwar Pujara's scintillating unbeaten century (135) along with Virat Kohli's fantastic knock of 77 not out helped India dominate the Proteas on the third day of first Test as the visitors took a comprehensive 320-run second innings lead with eight wickets in hand here on Friday.
The Indians first bundled out the hosts for 244 for a slender first innings lead of 36 runs and then batted with purpose and maturity to reach 284 for two at close on an eventful third day's play.
After the Indian pacers had done their job to give India an upper hand in the first innings, Pujara played brilliantly to score sixth Test century while Virat Kohli, who had scored a ton in the first innings, too looked in good form as he went on to make an unbeaten 77. The duo put on 191 runs for the unbroken third-wicket stand in only 44.1 overs.
Meanwhile, apart from the little success on the field, South Africa were dealt with a blow as Morne Morkel was ruled out of the match due to a ligament tear in his ankle while fielding.
Earlier in the day, a 70-run stand between Murali Vijay (39) and Cheteshwar Pujara for the second wicket, saw India to 109 for 2 at the stroke of tea.
In the morning, Zaheer Khan (4/88) took three of the remaining four wickets as South Africa could add only 31 runs to their overnight score of 213 for six. Zaheer now has 299 wickets in Test matches and will need only one more to become the fourth Indian bowler after Kapil Dev, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh to enter the '300-club'.
Ishant Sharma also picked up a wicket to end up with impressive figures of four for 79.
