Team India avoided a series defeat away from home as Rohit Sharma’s side beat South Africa by 7 wickets.
The Test win marks Team India’s first win after 31 years in Cape Town. India were without a win in 6 previous Tests on the venue.
Chasing the 79-run target, openers Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal managed to give the team a decent start after which the Rohit-Iyer duo steered India to the finish line after what was a superb display by the Indian pacers in Cape Town.
Pacers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and Mukesh Kumar starred for the visitors as they demolished The Proteas batting lineup to a low total in both their innings despite of a 2nd innings century by South Africa’s Aiden Markram.
Jasprit Bumrah – the GOAT…!!!
6/61 in the 2nd innings against South Africa – his 3rd Five wicket haul in South Africa, 6th in SENA and 8th in overseas conditions. pic.twitter.com/sTyeYhNaqb
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) January 4, 2024
With Day 1 starting off on the wrong foot for the home side, Mohd Siraj’s 6-wicket haul bamboozled the batters as they got restricted at just 55 runs in the first 2 hours of the Test.
However, it wasn’t easy for the Indian batters as well who struggled to tackle the Protea pacers. Virat Kohli again stood out with the bat and top scored for the side with 46 runs.
South Africa did come back with a flurry of wickets in the latter end which saw 5 batters get dismissed on a duck, making it 6 ducks in a single innings.
Bumrah at his best
Having a slender lead in the 2nd innings, Indian pacer Jasprit Bumrah came back into action and bagged his 3rd fifer in South Africa to help restrict South Africa to 176, which eventually set a 79-run target for Rohit’s men. Aiden Markram’s valiant century on a pitch where people failed to score a fifty came in handy for the home side as well.
Bumrah’s 6/61 in the 2nd innings proved crucial for India in order to level the series. He is now only behind Indian legend Kapil Dev (7) in terms of the most fifers in SENA nations with the pacer sitting on 6.
🚨India Vs South Africa Test match finished in 107 overs. 🚨
– The shortest ever Test match in history…!!! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/0h9VSRBA5D
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) January 4, 2024
All in all, it was a good comeback win by Team India who had failed miserably in the first Test and lost by an innings and 32 runs in Centurion.
Th team would be disappointed though as the winless streak in South Africa is still not broken.