Johannesburg, Jan 6 (IANS): The start of day four in the second Test between South Africa and India has been delayed due to inclement weather conditions at the Wanderers here on Thursday.

From morning 9 am in Johannesburg, the rain had been coming in on and off fashion with covers on the pitch and square area. As per weather.com, rain along with thunderstorms have been predicted for the entire day.

"DAY 4 | START DELAYED. Inclement weather had brought about a delayed start to Day 4 fo the 2nd Betway Test at Imperial Wanderers," said a tweet from Cricket South Africa (CSA).

"The Wanderers under a cloud cover at the moment. It is drizzling here on Day 4. We will be back with LIVE updates," read a tweet from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Coming to the match, South Africa captain Dean Elgar was gutsy in leading the way for his team with the bat as the hosts' finished at 118/2 in 40 overs at stumps on day three. With two days left in the match, South Africa need 122 runs to level the series while India need eight wickets to script their first-ever series victory in the 'Rainbow Nation'.

India have had set a target of 240 for South Africa after being all out for 266. Cameos from Shardul Thakur (28) and Hanuma Vihari (40 not out) took the lead past 200 after a stand of 111 runs off 144 balls between Cheteshwar Pujara (53) and Ajinkya Rahane (58) set the base for India to pose a tricky target for South Africa. For the hosts, Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen and Lungi Ngidi took three wickets each.

Brief scores: India 202 & 266 in 60.1 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 58, Cheteshwar Pujara 53; Kagiso Rabada 3/77, Lungi Ngidi 3/43) against South Africa 229 and 118/2 in 40 overs (Dean Elgar 46 not out, Aiden Markram 31; Ravichandran Ashwin 1/14, Shardul Thakur 1/24), South Africa need 122 runs to win.