The Men in Blue won their first match in Centurion as the defeated the Proteas by a massive margin of 113 runs.
Indian side under Virat Kohli became the first-ever Asian team to win a Test match at the Supersport Park, Centurion, having defeated the hosts by 113 runs in the first Test of the series. It took a monumental effort from the Indian pacers, who took 18 of the 20 wickets until Ravi Ashwin picked up the last two of the game, to help the side take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
The rain forecast threatened to eat up a lot of time, and eventually, the Test match for the Indian side. However, unlike what happened in Trent Bridge, the rain gods were a lot more kind, and there was no sign of the clouds doing dirty business. Indian speedsters began the day with their usual energy, whilst the South African batters, who looked a bit calmer towards the end of last day, had lost their composure.
Dean Elgar, after completing his fifty last night, added some more boundaries but he was constantly having second thoughts due to the wayward bounce. He fell in Mohammed Shami’s trap nearly, but the fast bowler dropped a regulation catch off his own bowling. Luckily, that didn’t cost the side a lot as Jasprit Bumrah came back into the attack and did the business.
He beat Elgar for pace and movement, and the batter was playing down the wrong line, exposing himself right in front of the stumps. He had asked for a referral, but that only saw the review vanish in thin air with three reds on Hawkeye. After that, it was just some periods of resistance from the Proteas, most of which led to nothing major.
Quinton de Kock and Temba Bavuma took the aggressive route and collected some crucial runs. The duo batted nearly 10 overs together before de Kock chopped one on to the stumps off Mohammed Siraj, just the way he did in the first innings off Shardul Thakur. Wiaan Mulder’s brief little stay came to an end with the batter falling prey to Shami.
At lunch, the side had lost seven wickets, staring at just their third defeat in Centurion, but Temba Bavuma’s presence in the middle just kept them a little interested. Marco Jansen, the debutant who looked confident with the bat in the first innings, started the second session with two boundaries off the very first over against Shami.
But the 31-year-old stuck to his line and made the youngster play down the wrong line. He edged it behind, where Rishabh Pant took a brilliant catch, and Shami was pumped to get the breakthrough after getting hit for two boundaries. Ashwin then finished the job in style for the visiting side, picking up the final two wickets.
Kagiso Rabada tried to emulate his lofted shots from the first innings off Ashwin and top-edged it to backward point. The next delivery, Lungi Ngidi was beaten for the flight and edged it to a short backward leg to complete one of the most memorable triumphs in Indian history.
After England in 2000 and Australia in 2014, India became only the third visiting team to defeat the Proteas in Centurion, a venue where they won 21 out of 27 games. KL Rahul was adjudged player of the match for his sensational century in the first innings.
Brief scores
India 1st innings: 327 all out in 105.3 overs (KL Rahul 123, Agarwal 60; Ngidi 6/71)
South Africa 1st innings: 197 all out in 62.3 overs (Bavuma 52, de Kock 34; Shami 5/44)
India 2nd innings: 174 all out in 50.3 overs (Pant 34; Jansen 4/55, Rabada 4/42)
South Africa 2nd innings: 191 all out in 68 overs (Elgar 77, Bavuma 35*; Bumrah 3/50, Shami 3/63)
India win by 113 runs
