Team India kicked-off 2024 on a winning note picking up a win the second and final Test of their series against South Africa. The Men in Blue emerged victorious in a very low-scoring match that finished in just two days.
Earlier in the first innings, batting first, South Africa, led by stand-in captain Dean Elgar who played his farewell match, were bundled for just 55 runs by a superb Indian bowling attack led by Mohammed Siraj.
On a wayward pitch, only two Proteas batters registered double digit scores. With India coming to bat, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed for nought, prompting fears of a similar collapse. However, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill built up the innings and things looked normal. Virat Kohli also joined in the chase and added precious runs to take India’s tally to 153 for the loss of four wickets.
That is when the pitch again started to show its colours. The Indian batters dropped like flies as only the wickets section of the scoreboard started to tick, instead of the runs. In a sensational collapse, India lost six wickets without scoring a single run and the scoreboard read 153/10.
The collapse was led by Lungi Ngidi and soon Kagiso Rabada joined in. The duo along with Nandre Burger picked three wickets each to end India’s first innings in the first day itself and come to bat for their second innings as well.
In their second innings, South Africa’s Aiden Markram played the lone wolf scoring a very important ton considering the conditions, even as the rest of the team faltered before the Indian pacers. Jasprit Bumrah led the attack this time picking up six wickets.
South Africa scored 176 to hand India a target of 79 to win. In a show of appreciation, Virat Kohli gestured team India to not celebrate Dean Elgar’s wicket and instead bow down to him on the veteran batter’s last match.
Coming in to bat, India finished the match off quickly not allowing a similar collapse. India finished on 80/3 to win the match in just two days. This meant that the two-match Test series was tied at 1-1.
