Cape Town: South Africa, going through its toughest phase, cruised to a memorable 2-1 series win over the star-affiliated Indian team with a seven-wicket victory in the third Test here on Friday.
The target of 212 was not difficult and Keegan Pietersen (82, 113 balls) put on 54 runs for the third wicket with Rassie van der Dussen (41 not out) after scoring 101 for two. Temba Bavuma (32 not out) helped in the final touch before the match.
Pietersen walked away with both the player of the match and the best player of the series.
Sunil Gavaskar dubbed it a “nightmare for India” as they weren’t even close to competing in the last two Tests and shared Dean Elgar’s ear-to-ear grin and bear hug with his teammates.
It was especially sweet for the hosts, who had lost premier pacer Enrique Nortje to injury prior to the series and were then struck by the sudden mid-series retirement of Quinton de Kock.
Meanwhile, the Indian team lost it’s mind after Elgar’s controversial DRS review which went wrong on Thursday and used the stump microphone more to take a dig at broadcaster Supersport instead of focusing on dismissing Pietersen. He was focused on doing.
India captain Virat Kohli admitted after the match, “It’s a great Test spectacle for everyone; a hard-fought series. Great first game but SA did amazingly well. They won both Tests.” He was clinical with the ball.” Play.
With the loss of this series, India’s record of never winning a Test series in the Rainbow Nation for three decades remained intact.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the only Indian captain to have achieved success in a drawn series in 2010.
It was one of the strongest Indian teams on paper against one of the weakest South African teams on paper.
However, the adverb here was “on paper” as Elgar’s unruly swagger showed a lot of character in punching well above his weight and received huge rewards for his tireless efforts.
An excited Elgar said, “The way our bowling unit has delivered throughout the series has been fantastic. I dismissed the challenge after the first game and the people gave a great response.”
Mindless chattering and incessant sledging didn’t bother the likes of Pietersen and van der Dussen as they were doing their jobs in a completely professional manner.
India’s batsmen had been dependent on bowlers for the past few years, but this series showed that the attack is humane even if they put their best foot forward, which was not at all complemented by Willow Wilders.
The only hope for India was the first spell in the humid conditions with the half-new ball from Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami doing their job with utmost sincerity.
Pietersen was beaten repeatedly but, in between, scored his own runs to keep the scoreboard in check.
His strategy was to watch and capitalize on the spell first when Umesh Yadav, who is known for bowling boundaries, was brought into the attack.
Bumrah straightened one in his second spell, but Cheteshwar Pujara dropped a crucial regulation slip catch with the batsman for 59 runs, ending the series poor with the bat.
If anyone remembers, it was Ross Taylor, who was dropped by a sitter by Pujara during the World Test Championship final, and Bumrah, the recovering bowler who got ‘life’.
It was Shardul Thakur who eventually played the young man, but by then Pietersen had ensured a series win for his team.
India did not lose the Test due to a DRS mistake, but saved the first innings of the first Test for consistent poor batting throughout the series.
Scores of 202, 223 and 198 only cost India a loss, and second innings attempts at both Wanderers and Newlands showed that there was only so much Indian bowlers could do.
Heavy Duty was not looking good with their customized diatribe against host broadcasters SuperSport due to their disappointing performance.
The captain himself led the attack and this seemed like a poignant way of trying to lay the blame on technology that “may or may not be wrong”.
Die-hard Kohli fans believe the Indian captain needs a narrative to inspire him and his favorite script is “he and his team against the whole world” as his deputy KL Rahul’s for the series. Fans will believe the stump-mic.
This is far from the truth but it does a good job of pushing the envelope.
On the fourth morning van der Dussen was hit by intense sledging and Pietersen did the same but remained unfazed.
Once Bavuma started hitting those boundaries, Stroll responded.
But Kohli lost his lawyer and blew up his top, also the launch of a man who has been battling all kinds of socio-political issues over the years against a much lower-order side. There was a lot of pressure and Test defeat. Not going well with BCCI.
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