NEW DELHI: India stared down the barrel as a ruthless South Africa posted an improbable target of 549, all but ensuring their first series triumph here in 25 years at the end of the fourth day of the second Test.

After South Africa declared their second innings at 260 for 5, India were reeling at 27 for 2 at stumps on Tuesday, having lost openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (13) to Marco Jansen and KL Rahul (6) to Simon Harmer.

Sai Sudharsan (2 batting) and night-watchman Kuldeep Yadav (4 batting) were at the crease, but it will take a herculean effort from the remaining batters to save the game on the final day and avoid a 0-2 whitewash.

The only saving grace could be the fading light in this part of the world after 3:45 pm, with not more than 80 overs possible on any of the past four days.

Head coach Gautam Gambhir would certainly prefer a 0-1 series defeat over a 0-2 result, which would mark India’s second series debacle at home against a SENA nation in the past 12 months.

On the fourth day, South Africa had two clear targets. First, to set a virtually unreachable target. Secondly, the longer the Proteas batted, the more likely the red soil track would crumble on the fifth day.

Tristan Stubbs (94 off 180 balls), who missed a fifty in the first innings by a single run, fell just short of a Test century by six runs.

Stubbs and de Zorzi dominate as Bavuma declares

Once Stubbs became Ravindra Jadeja's (4/62 in 28.3 overs) fourth victim, skipper Temba Bavuma declared the innings, having made India bowl for 78.3 overs.

Stubbs enjoyed a 101-run partnership with Tony de Zorzi (49) for the fourth wicket and another 82 for the fifth with Wiaan Mulder (35 not out), following a 50-plus opening stand between Ryan Rickleton (28) and Aiden Markram (35).

Bavuma, an experienced captain, appeared tactically superior to India’s stand-in skipper Rishabh Pant, who struggled to impose his strategy in a one-off leadership role. Bavuma could have declared once the lead crossed 450 but instead waited to ensure his bowlers could exploit any remaining assistance from the surface the next morning.

The pitch still looked solid, though turn had increased from less than three degrees on day one to 4.6 on day four. Jadeja, who rarely gets much purchase, lured Markram into a forward defensive stroke. The ball pitched on middle stump, turned sharply past the outside edge, and clipped the off-stump. A few overs later, Bavuma fell to a leg-side trap from Washington Sundar, the ball bouncing and turning into his rib cage, with Nitish Reddy taking the catch at leg-slip.

After these dismissals, both Washington (1/67 in 22 overs) and Jadeja found little turn, allowing Stubbs and de Zorzi to farm the strike comfortably.

Pant’s field placements and tactical decisions were inconsistent, shifting between “in-out” fields and deploying five deep fielders to prevent boundaries. At times, it seemed India were merely playing the waiting game for Bavuma to declare.

Pant also struggled to give Kuldeep (0/48 in 12 overs) more opportunities, as he was being targeted by the Proteas. Jadeja and Washington were disciplined over 50-plus overs but never looked as threatening as Simon Harmer, who consistently troubled Indian batters in both innings.

(With PTI Inputs)