Spinner Kuldeep Yadav took three wickets as India rattled South Africa with late strikes to leave the tourists 247-6 at stumps on the first day of the second Test on Saturday.
Tristan Stubbs, who made 49, and skipper Temba Bavuma (41) put on 84 runs for the third wicket after South Africa elected to bat in their bid for a first Test series win in India in 25 years.
The World Test champions won the first Test of the two-match series by 30 runs at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens.
Ravindra Jadeja sent back Bavuma with his left-arm spin in the final session before Kuldeep denied Stubbs his fifty to raise the noise of a large weekend crowd in Guwahati.
Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep (3-48) dismissed Wiaan Mulder for 13 and pace bowler Mohammed Siraj ended Tony de Zorzi’s defiance on 28 with the second new ball to further dent South Africa.
Left-hander Senuran Muthusamy, on 25, and wicketkeeper-batter Kyle Verreynne, on one, were batting when bad light forced stumps with only 81.5 overs possible, fewer than the usual 90 overs in a day.
Aiden Markram, who scored 38, and Ryan Rickelton (35) fell either side of the first break to Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep after an opening partnership of 82.
Bavuma and Stubbs, promoted to number three in the batting order, then got to the grind and slowly took the attack to the hosts with regular boundaries as the pair used their feet against the Indian spinners.
Jadeja broke through with his left-arm spin to dismiss in-form Bavuma, who scored the only fifty in the opener in Kolkata, after the batter chipped to mid-off.
Stubbs attempted to keep up the tempo as he hit Jadeja for a six but soon Kuldeep had him caught at slip.
Play started 30 minutes earlier than usual, with the order of the session breaks reversed, meaning tea came before lunch at India’s newest Test venue, which attracted an opening-day crowd of over 15,000 fans.
Bumrah had Markram bowled at the stroke of tea when the batsman inside-edged a delivery on to his stumps.
Kuldeep struck on the third ball after the break to cut short Rickelton’s 82-ball stay.
The openers had started cautiously and Markram got off the mark on his 17th ball with a crunching cover drive for four off Bumrah.
Bumrah nearly had his revenge next ball only for KL Rahul to drop a regulation chance at second slip. The bowler covered his face in dismay.
South Africa, who recently drew 1-1 in Pakistan, are chasing a first series win in India since Hansie Cronje’s team triumphed there in 2000.