On a moving day, Dean Elgar’s unbeaten 140 gave South Africa the upper hand against India at Centurion. The hosts ended Day 2 of the first Test at 256 for 5, in front by 11 runs.
India had begun the day on a bright note. KL Rahul continued to play with a degree of freedom, upper-cutting, pulling and finally hoicking Gerlad Coetzee across the line to complete arguably his best international hundred. Mohammed Siraj, the No. 10 batter, gave him decent support, as the duo added 47 crucial runs.
When Siraj was dismissed, Rahul was on 95. He soon stole a bye before hitting a six to reach the landmark. Eventually, Nandre Burger cleaned up Rahul with an excellent delivery that nipped back off the seam from round the wicket. Burger and Rabada shared eight of the spoils between them.
India also started their bowling effort on the right note. The pair of Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah found enough movement in the air and off the pitch to beat both edges of the bat. However, they could only pick up a single wicket, with Aiden Markram edging an away-seamer to the wicketkeeper.
At that juncture, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur, the third and fourth seamers, couldn’t bowl with discipline. Although Prasidh bowled a few good lifters, there was always a loose ball around the corner. Elgar, in particular, took advantage of those. Even after the lunch break, this bowling pair couldn’t keep the runs down. Ultimately, Bumrah bagged the scalps of both Tony de Zorzi and Keegan Petersen.
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Elgar then found an able ally in David Bedingham on his Test debut, with the duo sharing a vital 131-run stand for the fifth wicket. Both played some exquisite shots through the off-side. Bedingham also employed the pull to good effect. In the 43rd over, Elgar aggregated his hundred off just 140 deliveries, his second quickest ton in Test cricket.
Late in the day, Siraj cleaned up Bedingham. Meanwhile, Prasidh found his rhythm and was rewarded with the wicket of Kyle Veereynne. He also hit Elgar on the finger with a sharp lifter. However, by then, India were already behind in the game, as play was called off due to bad light after Elgar took the blow. Bumrah was easily the best bowler on show for India, returning figures of 2 for 48. Rest of them went at over four an over.
The pitch seemed to play less tricks on Day 2. One of the reasons would be South Africa had Kagiso Rabada playing for them. The other reason could be the sun didn’t make its presence felt right through the day. So, the pitch perhaps didn’t break up. Whatever it is, India have some soul-searching to do.