India went to South Africa with high hopes of winning the series. The match started at the centurion and it didn’t take long for the test match to show who is going to be the clear shot winner. The South Africans showed their home dominance and riding on home advantage, they absolutely grilled the Indian batsmen. Kagiso Rabada destroyed the Indian top order in the first innings, taking a fifer in the process.
Not many Indian batters showed the resilience needed. Kohli and Iyer did had some time at the crease but it didn’t do much harm to the South African pacers. The one man who showed his class was KL Rahul. He continued his good form that he has been carrying from the Asia Cup since his comeback. He played along, resisted the fire presented by Protean pacers and made a remarkable century. If provided help at any stage by any other batsman, the team total would have gone much higher.
But to win the whole match, all South Africa needed was one innings. Yes, that’s all South Africa took to kick India out of contention to win or even save the match. The captain led from the front and playing his last series before retirement, Dean Elgar showered thunders and went on to hit a brilliant century. Along with support from other ends, the South Africa took a sustainable lead.
The Indian batters in the second innings completely faltered and got decimated. The only man to stand and strike back was Virat Kohli. He made more than half of India’s total and showed why he is rated so highly. This one innings also made everyone wondered that whether India missed Pujara and Rahane? Pujara in particular had been the batsman who would stand and eat up balls whenever these situations would arise.
Now Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid would look forward to bounce back in the next test.
By Pushkar Tiwari