Dean Elgar’s brilliant hundred and the Kagiso Rabada-led pace attack put on a splendid show as South Africa annihilated India by an innings and 32 in the first Test in Centurion.
India folded up for a mere 131 in the second innings, with only Virat Kohli (76) standing tall amid the ruins. If Rabada was South Africa’s hero with the ball in the first essay, then Nandre Burger gave a superb exhibition of bowling in the second, bagging a four-for.
After conceding a lead of 163, India’s batting unit collapsed in a heap. Rohit Sharma was the first one to be dismissed, cleaned up by a peach that left the batter after pitching to rattle the timber. Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has a back foot trigger, struggled to play the fuller length deliveries, getting beaten on the outside edge on enough occasions. Eventually, Burger bowled a snorter of a short ball that forced Jaiswal to edge it behind.
For a while, Shubman Gill played with freedom, cracking some crisp drives. However, the old weakness of not loading up on the back foot came back to haunt him as he was castled by Marco Jansen. Shreyas Iyer, who got a reprieve, was also bowled by the tall left-armer.
Despite losing batters at the other end, Kohli was in his own zone — driving and flicking the pace bowlers to all parts of the ground. He was even prepared to cut and punch pace bowlers square of the wicket on the off-side — shots that he hasn’t played often in the recent-past. Kohli’s trigger movement too seems to have reduced a touch.
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Unfortunately for India, he didn’t get much support. KL Rahul, the first-innings centurion, drove one to the slip cordon off Burger. Burger then got a bit of lift to tempt Ravichandran Ashwin to edge one to gully. Rabada made short work of Shardul Thakur, by dismissing him for just two runs. Jasprit Bumrah followed him back to the hut on the back of a terrible mix-up. Jansen completed the formalities by removing Kohli.
Earlier, Elgar and Jansen had stitched a 142-run stand to take the game completely away from India’s grasp. Elgar was ultimately removed for a 287-ball 185. The feature of his innings was not just doggedness at the crease, but he also took on the Indian pace bowlers with some fine pull shots, a stroke that he didn’t play against the Australian fast bowlers last year. On the other hand, Jansen’s 84 turned out to be his highest score in Test cricket.
Barring Bumrah, the Indian bowlers continued to bowl all over the shop. They also looked for swing. In South Africa, movement off the pitch comfortably scores over swing. Even Shaun Pollock, the South African commentator, mentioned this point. When South Africa were all out for 408, the result of the match seemed more or less a foregone conclusion. Although, one expected a little more fight from the Indian batters.
The only concern for South Africa going into the second Test would be fitness concerns surrounding Gerald Coetzee and Temba Bavuma. The Indian team, however, has plenty to worry about.