South Africa 266 for nine on the opening day of second test

It was a stunning collapse for the South Africa, who were at one stage cruising along courtesy fluent centuries by debutant Alviro Petersen (100) and Hashim Amla (114).

But Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh combined to rip through South Africa's middle order as India staged a dramatic late comeback to reduce the visitors to 266 for nine on the opening day of their second and final cricket Test in Kolkata on Sunday.

At stumps, Wayne Parnell (2) and Morne Morkel (3) were at the crease for South Africa when play was called off early due to bad light.

The South Africans went into tea break at 228 for two but in a stunning reversal of fortunes, the so-far-off-colour Harbhajan picked up three wickets in the space of two overs to wreck the the visiting line-up.

The off-spinner ended the day with figures of 23-2-63-3.

Pace speahead Zaheer also picked up three wickets conceding 77 runs in his 21 overs.

Earlier, 20-year-old Petersen became the first South African in 18 years to slam a hundred on debut, while last match's double centurion Amla continued from where he had left off, scoring his ninth Test ton.