After a heavy defeat at Centurion, India made a strong comeback, with a seven-wicket win in the second Test in Cape Town. With this victory, they levelled the series 1-1. On the second day, Jasprit Bumrah ripped through the rest of the South Africa batting unit and bagged a six-for as the hosts got bundled out for just 176. Aiden Markram was the cornerstone of South Africa’s batting effort, cracking an impressive 102.
Day 2 seemed to be all about the battle between Markram and Bumrah. Markram, who seems to have done some work on his technique, looked in supreme touch, driving, punching, cutting and pulling the pace bowlers to all corners. When India bowled shorter, he moved back. When India went fuller, he was there to crunch the drive. He seemed to commit early, but not way too early. Simply put, he was getting into good positions time and again.
Unfortunately for the opener, he hardly got support. David Bedingham edged one to the ’keeper. Kyle Verreynne then played a rash shot and was caught at mid-on. Marco Jansen looked in decent touch, but Bumrah pouched an excellent return catch to remove the all-rounder. For a while, Markram entertained the crowd by thwacking Prasidh Krishna, Bumrah and Siraj. Prasidh, in particular, came in for some severe punishment.
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Siraj, eventually, removed Markram by bowling a slightly wider line. His strategy was clearly better than that of Prasidh. This is where Prasidh perhaps has some work to do. His short ball was middle and leg-lined as Markram landed the pull. India’s pace bowlers then completed the formalities by dismissing the last two batters. Bumrah was clearly the best bowler on show in the second dig, hitting the indentations enough times with a straight seam.
In the small chase of 79, India lost Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill. Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer provided the finishing touches. The Cape Town Test would be remembered for the 23 wickets that fell on Day 1. South Africa could muster only 55, while India compiled 153. The visitors did have a dramatic collapse, losing their last six wickets for zero runs. Siraj was the star performer for India in the first innings, taking a six-for.