South Africa remains unconquered! The Final Frontier remains still. India faced a humiliating loss at the hands of the Proteas to lose the game by an innings. Dean Elgar’s blazing 185 proved too much for the visitors who fell down like a pack of cards. SA clinched the win on Day 3 with an innings and 32 runs.
South Africa lead by 163 runs after their first innings. It was assumed that India will come with all guns blazing with the pitch changing, but the Proteas struck. They enforced a batting collapse to seal the match by an innings and 32 runs.
South Africa started the match from their overnight score of 256/5. Dean Elgar and Marco Jansen continued their onslaught targeting Shardul Thakur and Prasidh Krishna. Jansen managed to script his highest ever Test score of 84 as he remained unbeaten.
On the other hand, Dean Elgar playing his last Test series hammered his 150 and then continued his charge till 185 before Shardul Thakur dismissed him. Gerald Coetzee added 19 runs down the order before being dispatched by Ravi Ashwin. SA ended their innings on 408 as Temba Bavuma didn’t come out to bat.
India Collapses in South Africa
Hopes were high on the Indian batters to pile up a big score but alas. Kagiso Rabada, Nandre Burger and Marco Jansen wreaked havoc on the visitors. The hosts inflicted yet another batting collapse as India failed to find any answer to the Proteas pace attack.
Rohit Sharma yet again got dimissed by Kagiso Rabada, this time fore a duck. Yashasvi Jaiswal who looked nervous departed after scoring 5 runs. Shubman Gill looked in good touch, but he too departed 10 minutes before tea.
Virat Kohli remained India’s only hope as he went on to hammer his 30th Test fifty, only on a losing cause. He continued to bat fearlessly as he took on the SA bowlers. But Kohli had no partners. Back from tea, Shreyas Iyer departed after scoring 6 runs, KL Rahul soon followed next after managing just 4 runs.
Ravi Ashwin disappointment continued as he departed on a golden duck. Shardul Thakur failed to play a short ball from Rabada as he gave away a simple catch. Bumrah too followed next, being dismissed on a duck. Such has been India’s collapse that apart from Gill and Kohli none of the Indian players managed double digit scores. Kohli was the last batter to depart on 74 as Nandre Burger picked up a fifer on his Test debut.