South Africa vs India, second Test Day 4: Dean Elgar's heroics helps Proteas to historic win

South African skipper Dean Elgar led the charge with an unbeaten 96 and he was extremely well supported by the rest of the batting order.

South Africa skipper Dean Elgar (Image: Twitter/Cricket South Africa)
By Nilavro Ghosh | Jan 6, 2022 | 2 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

After an outstanding victory in the first Test, India were humbled in the second by South Africa on Thursday on a day that was marred with rain in the beginning. The Proteas won the match with seven wickets and one whole day to spare to draw level in the three-match series at 1-1. The victory will go down in the history books as it is the first time South Africa have won a Test match against India at the Wanderers Stadium. India could only manage to set a target of 240 runs and the Proteas chased it down with relative ease. Skipper Dean Elgar led the charge with an unbeaten 96 and he was extremely well supported by the rest of the batting order.

The Proteas finished Day 3 on 118-2 with the likes of Aiden Markram and Keegan Petersen back in the dressing room. Markram scored a decent 31 runs off 38 deliveries. Petersen also played a good knock, scoring 28 runs off 44 deliveries.

Dean Elgar simply outstanding

The spotlight, however, was on skipper Dean Elgar who played a captain’s knock to help the Proteas restore parity in the three-match series. Elgar displayed outstanding resilience as he recorded a fine half century. The South African skipper scored an unbeaten 96 runs off 188 deliveries in a knock that included ten boundaries.

Rassie van der Dussen also played a brilliant supporting role to his captain on Day 4 as he scored 40 runs off 92 deliveries, hitting five boundaries in the process. South Africa’s T20 skipper Temba Bavuma remained until the end with Elgar and was unbeaten on 23 runs off 45 deliveries.

It was an innings that the Indian bowlers would like to forget. They were frustrated by the sheer class and resilience by the South African batters and towards the end, it did seem like fatigue and frustration had gotten the better of them.

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Mohammed Shami was one of the Indian bowlers who displayed a decent performance as he bagged one wicket in  overs. The pacer managed to bowl three maidens. Shardul Thakur also bagged a wicket for the visitors and spinner Ravichandran Ashwin pitched in with a wicket as well.

However, the bowling performance was far below par and the Indian coaches, especially head coach Rahul Dravid, will have a lot to think about if they want to win the Test series. The decisive third Test match will begin on January 11 at the Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town.





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