South Africa will need to draw from their blueprint of fight and courage to overcome the tough challenge to save the third Test match against New Zealand at Seddon Park in Hamilton. It has been done before; against Australia in Adelaide in 2012, and against India in Johannesburg in 2013, performances which have given assistant coach, Adrian Birrell, the belief and optimism of a repeat in history.

The Proteas will remain hopeful if captain, Faf du Plessis, remains at the crease. Du Plessis was at the forefront of both batting saves and together with Quinton de Kock -who is the Proteas’ most in-form batsman this series- hold the key of withstanding the 98 overs remaining in the match.

India defeated Australia by eight wickets in the fourth and final Test at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium in Dharamsala on Tuesday to clinch the four-matrch series 2-1 to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Lokesh Rahul hit a half-century and guided the hosts to victory along with stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane after the early departure of Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara. Rahul remained undefeated on 51 while Rahane was not out on 38.

South Africa will need their dependable lower order to rescue them one final time this summer on the final day of their tour to New Zealand on Wednesday after their top order was badly exposed on the penultimate day of the third Test in Hamilton on Tuesday.

On a day dominated by the hosts, South Africa reached stumps on a woeful 80/5 in reply to the Black Caps’ first-innings 489 – still trailing by 95. This happened despite no obvious alarms in the pitch, with the tourists let down by some poor shot selection and a horrendous run-out.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly on Monday said that it was refreshing to see Indian pacers led by Umesh Yadav put pressure on Australia in the ongoing series, adding that Yadav has been bowling really well.

The pacer has picked up 17 wickets from 4 Tests, including the three wickets he took on day three in Dharamsala to help India stay within sniffing distance of a 2-1 series win. India now need 87 runs to win after the tourists were bundled out for a meagre 137 in their second innings.