The second test match between South Africa's Proteas and India has come to an end, with India emerging victorious by 7 wickets. The match was held at the Newlands Stadium Cape Town, South Africa from the 3rd to the 7th of January 2024. Let's have a look at how the match unfolded.
Day 1 saw Proteas winning the toss and electing to bat first. They got off to a horrendous start to the match as they were bowled out for 55 in 23.2 overs. India in reply could only manage to get a lead of 98 runs as they were bowled out for 153 in 34.5 overs. The Proteas came out to bat for a 2nd time on Day 1 for 17 overs scoring 62-3 and still trailing India's first innings lead by 36 runs to end the day.
Day 2 saw Aiden Markaram play the best innings of the match as he scored 60% of the Proteas' runs ending with 106 off 103 from the 176 runs the Proteas scored. With no support from the other end, Markram could only guide the Proteas to a lead of 78 runs. This meant India needed 79 runs to win and create history by winning their 1st test match at Newlands and also becoming the first Asian team in history to win a test match at Newlands.
India would make light work of the chase as they chased the score in 12 overs losing 3 wickets along the way. the series ended in a 1-1 draw for both teams and left India still in search of their first-ever test series win in South Africa
This test finished in a record 1 and a half days. There were many other records the 23 wickets that fell on Day 1 is the 2nd most to have fallen in a day play the record being 25 in a match between Australia and England in 1902. India collapsing from 153-4 to 153 all out is the first time in the 146-year test history that a team lost 6 wickets without adding a run to their score.
This series also brings an end the the career of Dean Elgar who has been an excellent player for the Proteas over the years. He had a career that spanned 12 years and in that time he represented the Proteas in 86 test matches scoring 5347 runs which included 14 centuries and 23 fifties at an average of 37.9.
Well done too Dean on his test career and Thank You for the memories.
I think the players, coaches and groundsman can all take a learning from this especially the batsman should learn that applying yourself according to the conditions in test cricket is the biggest key to success.
Overall, it was a fantastic performance by the bowlers of both teams, with Markram being the standout batsman in the match. The Proteas will be disappointed with their performance, especially with their batting collapses in both innings. The series will end 1-1 with India moving back to the No. 1 spot in the World Test championship and Proteas dropping to 2nd position.
Writer: Ebrahim Yusuf Omar
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