Team India on Thursday registered their first-ever Test win at Newlands, Cape Town, defeating South Africa by 7 wickets to square the 2-match series 1-1. The visitors came back from a horrible 11-ball collapse on the first day to bundle South Africa for 176 as Jasprit Bumrah picked up 6 wickets in the second innings while Mukesh Kumar returned 2 for 56 in 10 overs.
Aiden Markram fired a counter-attacking 99-ball hundred to extend South Africa’s lead but he didn’t get enough support from the other end. As a result, the entire Proteas batting line-up crumbled before lunch on Thursday, setting India a paltry 79-run target to win the contest.
In reply, Yashasvi Jaiswal provided a blistering start with skipper Rohit Sharma playing the second fiddle. The former looked to wind up things in India’s favour at a rapid rate but in doing so, he fell prey to Nandre Burger after scoring 28 off 23 balls, smashing 6 boundaries.
Rohit was then joined by Shubman Gill and the duo looked to steer India to a much-needed win. But a little drama unfolded in Cape Town, making the tourists wait a little longer to taste victory.
With 22 required to win, Kagiso Rabada knocked over with a short-of-a-length ball which, surprisingly, didn’t bounce. Gill hopped to defend but only managed a bottom edge of the bat and the ball deflected onto the stumps.
Virat Kohli, in at No. 4, looked in control to seal the deal for India but Marco Jansen got the former Indian captain caught by wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne for 12. The tall South Africa pacer tried troubling Shreyas Iyer with a barrage of short balls but the Mumbaikar hit back with a lofted straight drive to finish the game in style.
Captain Rohit Sharma remained unbeaten on 17 while Iyer scored 4 not out as India won the game with 7 wickets in hand.
Earlier, South Africa began the second day at 62 for 3 but quickly lost their middle order to be at 111 for 7 before Markram took charge in a 51-run stand with Rabada where he launched into every Indian bowler.
Sensing that he could soon run out of partners once David Bedingham (11) edged one behind the stumps and Kyle Verreynne misjudged the length while going for an unnecessary pull-shot, Markram started attacking the inexperienced Mukesh Kumar (2/56 in 10 overs) and Prasidh Krishna (1/27 in 4 overs), who has been the weakest link in India’s pace attack in his debut series.
With captain Rohit Sharma rightly setting an attacking field, Markram, found it easy to muscle the balls through the gaps as he hit 17 fours and two mighty sixes off Prasidh. But it was Mohammed Siraj who induced a mistimed heave from Markram, ensuring the lead didn’t cross the 100-run mark.
The Proteas opener threw caution to the wind as he smashed his way to 106 off just 103 balls, singlehandedly steering Proteas to 176 all out in 36.5 overs at the stroke of lunch and leaving India with a victory target of 79 on a spicy pitch.
Meanwhile, a vintage Bumrah was in full bloom on a tailor-made surface. The ball didn’t fly off the surface as much as it did on the opening day but with enough juice available to get movement off the surface, Bumrah (6/61 in 13.5 overs) from his back-of-a-length approach in the first essay reverted to a more traditional fuller length delivery to set the alarm bells ringing for the Proteas.
(With Agency Inputs)
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