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Xtra Time Web Desk: Star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin's crucial knock of 46 during the end of the innings steered India to zoom past 200 runs and finish at 202. India stand in skipper too scored 50 runs before falling on the tricky pitch.

"Good total in South Africa has been tricky, especially in the first innings. It’s always a good thing to win the toss and bat first and you want to post a good score in excess of maybe 260 or 270 which is around about score. “South Africa always batted first (in the past) and got in excess of 250 and dominated games. Maybe we are a bit short. But I still think we’ve got with our entire bowling arsenal available tomorrow. Fingers crossed. We can definitely make something out of this total," he said rekindling hopes of Siraj's return on pitch on Tuesday.

“I just felt the pitch was a little two paced. Generally Wanderers has the tendency to start a bit slower and start getting quicker. It did quicken up a bit but it just feels a little different to a typical wanderers pitch so we’ll have to wait and see how it responds tomorrow," added Ashwin

Ashwin scored a tremendous 46 with a strike rate of 92. His innings consisted six fours and one saw him as a formidable batter yesterday. For the unknown, he was the another one with Hanuma Vihari who earlier saved a test match against Australia in 2021.

“Look, I think in between somewhere for a couple of years, trying to you know sort of get very technically right or whatever it is to try and build on scores, I think I lost a bit of my flow with respect to getting into good positions at the crease and I’ve always I knew even before that I’ve always batted at a good clip.

“So it’s not been a conscious effort to go out there and keep playing those shots. If it’s there, it’s there. For me, I get into positions where I can play some of those shots, which may be some of the other specialist batters might not be able to play but this freedom is what gave me success in the past," Ashwin explained.