2nd Test: India have the edge in bowlers’ day out as 23 wickets fall in a day of exhilarating action
Cape Town, Jan 3: In the 2005 Masters, when Tiger Woods pulled off that iconic chip-in on No 16 during the final round, the commentator Verne Lundquist commented with a now-famous line, "In your life have you seen anything like that?!"
That famed line from Lundquist can be applied on day one of frenetic cricketing action in the second Test between India and South Africa at Newlands on Wednesday. Under sunny sky and Table Mountain in the backdrop, fans became witness to things which weren’t seen before on a cricket field.
India had bundled out South Africa for just 55, as Mohammed Siraj bowled nine overs on the trot and blew the Proteas batters away with a fiery, career-best spell of 6-15. The score of 55 from South Africa is also the lowest total by any team against India in Test cricket.
India took the lead in less than ten overs and were comfortably placed at 153/4, before suffering a sensational collapse. They lost six wickets for just zero runs in 11 balls - a never-seen-before instance in Test cricket history, with three of them taken by Lungi Ngidi’s triple-wicket maiden.
Despite that collapse, India still managed to have an edge as South Africa ended day one at 62/3. The hosts’ still trail by 36 runs on a pitch which has steep bounce and seam movement, with batting becoming an arduous task for batters’ of both teams.
Dean Elgar, playing his final Test match, won the toss and elected to bat first under bright skies. But it all went downhill quickly for South Africa from there as Aiden Markram nicked a good length delivery to diving third slip off Siraj.
Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah attacked Elgar with deliveries on stumps and placing short leg as well as leg-slip. That plan worked well when Elgar chopped on to his stumps off a wide outside off-stump delivery from Siraj.
With attacking lengths on stumps and close-in catchers placed, India found more success as debutant Tristan Stubbs inside-edged to short leg off Bumrah, while Tony de Zorzi glanced to wicketkeeper KL Rahul moving to his right off Siraj, as South Africa slumped to 29/4.
Siraj then found extra bounce around off-stump to have David Bedingham nicking to the slip cordon for 12. He finally got his fifer when Marco Jansen nicked behind to Rahul for a three-ball duck. In his next over, Siraj got his sixth wicket when Kyle Verreynne gave an outside edge on the drive to second slip.
Mukesh Kumar, coming in for Shardul Thakur, joined the wicket-taker’s party by using extra bounce to have Keshav Maharaj give a simple catch to mid-wicket. After Nandre Burger nicked to third slip off Bumrah, Mukesh ended the innings by having Kagiso Rabada edge to fourth slip, leaving India jubilant and South Africa stunned.
In reply, Rohit Sharma struck an off-colour Ngidi for three boundaries, as the pacer conceded 13 runs in his opening over. But Yashasvi Jaiswal fell without scoring, chopping on to his stumps off Rabada for a seven-ball duck.
With Ngidi and Burger dishing out half-vollies frequently, Rohit and Shubman Gill brought out delightful strokeplay on both sides of the wicket. Rohit survived two lbw appeals on nip-backers off Rabada and Jansen, before being squared up by extra bounce from Burger.
The Indian skipper looked to defend off him, but the outside edge came off shoulder of the bat and was caught by gully, as Rohit departed for 39 off 50 balls. Kohli had a huge stroke of luck on nought when the outside flew between slips and gully for four.
While Kohli punched and drove on half-vollies, Gill brought out his famed short-arm jab for picking boundaries. But Burger bounced back as Gill poked away from his body and gave a catch to gully moving to his left.
With rhythm found, Burger had another wicket by squaring up Shreyas Iyer and he nicked behind to Verreynne for duck. Post tea, Kohli was pulling and driving off Kagiso Rabada to pick boundaries with aplomb.
But Ngidi changed the course of the game by having Rahul upper-cut to the hands of Verreynne, obtain the glove edge on Ravindra Jadeja’s attempted fend to the leg-side for gully to catch it and force Bumrah to lob a catch to gully.
Kohli watched the Ngidi carnage from the non-striker's end and on the second ball of the next over, he went for a drive with hard hands, only for the second slip to catch the outside edge. Siraj was run-out two balls later, and Rabada wrapped up the innings immediately by having Prasidh Krishna caught at slip.
Markram and Elgar hit six boundaries in 9.3 overs to get South Africa’s second innings going. But in the next over, Elgar poked at one outside the off-stump off Mukesh and nicked to first slip, dismissed for 12 off 28 balls in what was his final innings in international cricket.
Elgar was congratulated by on-field Indian players, and given a standing ovation by the crowd over the end of a wonderful international Test career. Shortly after, de Zorzi nicked behind off Mukesh for one, followed by Jasprit Bumrah having Stubbs caught behind for second time in the day off an unplayable delivery.
A flurry of boundaries from Markram (36 not out) and Bedingham (seven not out) took Proteas without any further loss to stumps, leaving many on the field at the end of fast-moving day one with thoughts of ‘in your life have you seen anything like that’.
Brief Scores: South Africa 55 in 23.2 overs (Kyle Verreynne 15; Mohammed Siraj 6-15) and 62/3 in 17 overs (Aiden Markram 36 not out; Mukesh Kumar 2-25) trail India 153 in 34.5 overs (Virat Kohli 46, Rohit Sharma 39; Lungi Ngidi 3-30, Kagiso Rabada 3-38) by 36 runs