Cape Town classic: When India smashed South Africa the last time they clashed in a Test match
India will be squaring off against South Africa in the longest format of the sport for the first time in almost two years. The last time these two teams clashed was in Cape Town when the hold of the match swung like a pendulum. The match had all possible ingredients of being cinema of the highest order, featuring heroes, demons, fightbacks, unbelievable oomphs and aahs and eventually a magician who would rumble through the Proteas as India levelled the series in scintillating fashion.
Winning the toss, South Africa opted to bat first and India left the hosts stunned. Even before South Africa could realise what was happening, the Indian bowlers swarmed over them, harrowed them, tormented them and left them in a heap of ignominy.
Mohammed Siraj’s fiery bowling ran through South Africa like a knife storming through hot butter. Siraj carved a masterpiece, claiming six wickets which included the likes of Aiden Markram (2), Dean Elgar (4), Tony de Zorzi (2), David Bedingham (12), Kyle Verreynne (15) and Marco Jansen (0). He had support from Jasprit Bumrah and Mukesh Kumar as the duo shared four wickets between them. India bundled out South Africa for a paltry 55.
India had a shocker of a start with Yashasvi Jaiswal falling for a duck. But then Rohit Sharma (39), Shubman Gill (36) and Virat Kohli (46) stabilized the ship, hoping to launch a full-blown assault. However, whatever hopes lurked around, fizzled away in thin air as India lost their last six wickets without adding a single run after 153. From 153/4, India were bundled out for the same figure, losing KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Virat Kohli, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna.
Despite losing all the steam in a heartbeat, India still managed a lead of 98 runs, which was good enough to create troubles for South Africa. Aiden Markram played a gem of a knock, smashing 106 from just 103 balls but he got no support at all from his teammates.
Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the lot, registering six wickets in the second innings as South Africa were bowled out for 176, leaving India a target of 79 runs to get. Apart from Markram, only Dean Elgar (12), David Bedingham (11) and Marco Jansen (11) could manage double-digit scores.
The Indian batters didn’t have any problems whatsoever in chasing down what looked like a very modest total. India did lose three wickets in the form of Yashasvi Jaiswal (28), Shubman Gill (10) and Virat Kohli (12) but Rohit Sharma’s unbeaten 16 ensured that the visitors were walking away with the bragging rights of the second Test.
