India capitulate for 215 before hitting back on Day 1

An opening stand on 50 runs set the innings in the morning before losing Vijay and Dhawan in the second hour to adjourn to the interval at 85 for 2.

Dhawan, denied strike for long, was lured out by Elgar soon after the 50 was raised in 13.4 overs and spooned a drive back to the left arm slow bowler who accepted a return catch to his right.

The left hander's 12 came off 23 balls and 68 minutes and was his third low score in the series after bagging a pair in the opening Test at Mohali followed by an unbeaten 45 in the rained out second game at Bengaluru.

South Africa, then, hit back strongly through Morkel in the first hour post lunch.

The loss of both the batsmen in the second hour before lunch followed by a dramatic post-lunch middle-order collapse undid the initial good work.

The batsmen dismissed, mostly to poor shots, were Pujara (21), skipper Virat Kohli (22), Ajinkya Rahane (13) and Rohit Sharma, who did not play in the first two Tests.

In the space of 15 overs after lunch India lost four wickets for the addition of only 31 runs after being 95 for two - Morkel and Harmer doing the damage.

Morkel, who got rid of Vijay in the first session, added the wickets of Kohli and Rahane to his kitty in a fiery third spell of 4-2-8-2.