INDIA: 245 & 131. SOUTH AFRICA: 408. South Africa won by an inning & 32 runs.
Day 3 started as any other day would. Cracks and divots had begun to appear on the pitch, and the bounce was starting to get uneven, the ball was coming off the pitch quickly, and the sun was just helping the pitch to dry up. India started off well, Bumrah was doing Bumrah things, troubling the batters, and Jansen nicked a couple of balls early on, falling just shy of KL Rahul. But the Proteas batters rode their luck early on. And that was that. Dean Elgar went on to make a beautiful 185, Marco Jansen a delightful unbeaten 84, and South Africa were bowled out for 408, leading India by 163 runs. Not a mammoth lead, achievable if you bat well. But India did the exact opposite of that. They lost both their openers in the first 6 overs, and Virat Kohli walked in finding India 2 down for 13. Gill and Virat stitched together a partnership that looked good, but Jansen got through Shubman’s defense in the 14th over, reducing India to 52/3. There were a few partnerships along the way, but no one really stood in the middle with Kohli. While Virat was batting like a dream, the other end kept losing wickets, and eventually, India was bowled out for 131. South Africa had won a mammoth test, winning it by an innings and 32 runs, protected their fortress, and ensured India went back home without a series win once again.
Jansen’s Career Best Masterclass
The Proteas survived the early struggles, Indians were aggressive and on point in the morning. Rohit started with Bumrah and Siraj, and they produced chances, but Elgar and Jansen were too good. Of course, they were lucky, but they made sure to take their chances whenever they could. Jansen capitalized on India’s shortcomings and continued playing classic test cricket with boundaries regularly. The new ball didn’t work for India, there were good overs, but they couldn’t get wickets. For his first 59 runs, Jansen targeted mid-off and extra cover, scoring 32 runs through the off side, and 27 through leg.
For a few overs before lunch, India employed the short ball and tried getting wickets regardless of how many runs they went for. Shardul started it, although not the best choice given his pace, but he had no problems going for it. He went for runs, but he kept going for the wicket and was finally rewarded with Elgar’s coveted wicket. Elgar fell in the 95th over, 5 overs before lunch. Shardul’s short balls had finally produced a wicket. But again, what a magnificent knock by Elgar in his final boxing day test. A well-calculated 185 based around his strengths, he knew which balls to avoid, and which balls to hit out of the park. This knock was a masterpiece, and Elgar was Picasso for the day.
Coetzee joined Jansen in the middle whilst Shardul kept bowling short from one end, and Ashwin was bowling from the other end. Coetzee took them on, he got two fours and a six before lunch, Jansen too got a six and four off Thakur. Four overs post Elgar’s wicket produced 31 runs! When India finally found relief with Elgar’s dismissal, South Africa struck back even harder. They used the pressure India had created to counterattack. India was getting outplayed here, and it had been a horrid morning session for them. Completely opposite to what they’d have hoped for. And the worst aspect of this session was that they had bowled well, they had been patchy, but they had bowled well and weren’t rewarded for it. Ashwin struck just before lunch, he got Coetzee caught at mid-off, India had salvaged two wickets late in the session, they’d still go to Lunch disappointed, but they had something to be happy about.
Bumrah started post-lunch, and immediately got Rabada, with Bavuma being out, India was one wicket away. Bumrah struck again a few overs later and ended with a superlative four-wicket haul. Jansen was stranded in the middle with a career-best score of 84. Bumrah had been India’s best bowler this match, as he has been several times. No one from the Indian side had his consistency of line, length, and pace. Ashwin was really impressive too, but spin doesn’t work in South Africa. India had finally got South Africa all out. It had been a tough day, South Africa made them work for their money. Battled hard every time India built pressure. And of course, Elgar and Jansen’s 111 run-stand frustrated and exhausted the Indians. India could start batting again, and could start scaling the 163-run hill.
Kohli vs South Africa
Rabada bamboozled Rohit in the 3rd over, and the Indian captain walked back for an 8-ball duck, getting dismissed by Rabada again. After bowling an outswinger, inswinger, and an outswinger off the first three balls of the over, Rabada brought in a sharp inswinger. It was a good delivery, but not a Jaffa, you’d expect a veteran opener like Rohit to be able to play that. He was dodgy in his footwork and had a little too much weight on his front foot. Another horrendous dismissal for Rohit, and this wasn’t going to help him move on from the World Cup.
Shubman Gill walked out, main objective: prevent another collapse. But who knew what was to follow? In Burger’s 3rd over, a ball jumped back up, caught Jaiswal off guard, and the horrid trampoline bounce that the pitch had created caught Yashashvi’s edge. He was gone. Suddenly India had lost both its openers and were 13/2 whilst trailing by 150 on Day 3. Virat Kohli joined Gill in the middle, the Proteas Pacers were wreaking havoc again, throwing balls of fire every over, and whilst Virat had been in fantastic form, he still wasn’t where he would’ve liked in tests. They had to survive, scoring was going to come, but if they got through this early onslaught, they could get India to 163 and above. And they did that for a while. Shubman batted well, and it looked like he was slowly returning to the ominous form he had been in earlier this year. Kohli was cautious and watchful at the beginning but had smashed a few good boundaries that would’ve blown a wind of relief across the Indian dressing room.
Just when things were looking good, Jansen in his second over, caught Gill napping. A fullish delivery nipped back into Shubman’s stumps, with practically no footwork, it looked like Gill had a brain fade and lapse of concentration. Gill, who was looking very good, had to walk back for 26, which would eventually be India’s only other double-digit score. Shreyas Iyer walked in with India ailing in pain, and a solid partnership was the need of the hour. But off his first ball, he escaped an edge flying to the keeper. And Jansen kept coming at him with the short ball. There was a 20-run partnership between Kohli and Iyer, but Iyer only got 6 runs in the partnership. Kohli was batting like a dream, hitting boundaries in every possible way. Heck, he even hit a six! And Kohli has only 24 career test sixes, so that is a rare sight, and if a batter could fight off the first few overs, he could join hands with Kohli to get India through. But it wasn’t to be. Iyer was bowled off Jansen, off a lazy straight drive, with no footwork there. Another moment of lapse of concentration there. I was heavily disappointed with Gill and Iyer’s dismissals. Two lazy drives with virtually no footwork. Trying to build innings in test cricket without footwork is a tough task, especially in South African conditions.
First innings centurion - KL Rahul walked in, a player that had aced the South African conditions, I hoped he could build a partnership with Kohli to bat deep, and it was a decent partnership, 24 runs off 48 balls, but again, Virat was the one who scored majority of runs in that partnership, KL only scored 4 runs off that partnership. He struggled to get in grips with the wicket. Coetzee, Jansen, and Rabada were spot on with their lengths and line, they didn’t let KL get comfortable on that pitch, KL played 24 balls, scoring just 4 runs off them, playing a lot of dot balls. And he ought to keep following the ball trying to hit whatever runs he could, and that is what happened. He tried to hit a ball swinging through outside off, it caught a heavy knick of his bat and Markram held on to it. Ravi Ashwin walked in and hit a ball to gully directly to Bedingham. And just like that, India was 96/6, still trailing by 67 runs. There were 9, 8, 8, and 10-run partnerships over the next four wickets. Virat Kohli kept batting like it was 2018 and he kept running out of partners at the other end. Were we back to 2018? Were we back in Cape Town in 2021? Virat was batting like we were. Every run he scored was pleasing to the eyes, four boundaries through the off side, four boundaries through the leg side, and one six over mid-off. Virat's 2018 swagger and confidence was back, he was bossing the bowlers, scoring boundaries everywhere. He not only owned those 22 yards, but was owning the entire field. Virat Kohli was batting like he was the king, not only the king of the sport, but the king and emperor of the fields he sets foot in. If batting was an art, Kohli had become the amalgamation of Picasso, da Vinci, Van Gogh, and Dali. And Kohli had brought out his brushes and colors once again. He was in some unreal form, and India would hope he continues this in the second match.
Ultimately, Kohli was caught short of long-on, with Rabada taking a brilliant catch. India was bowled out on 131, losing the match by an innings and 32 runs. Burger with a four-wicket haul, Jansen with 3, and Rabada with 2. India will go back home with another unsuccessful South Africa tour. They’ve come to South Africa with dreams of winning their maiden test series victory there, and have returned empty-handed every time, Sourav Ganguly tried, MS Dhoni tried, Virat Kohli tried, and now Rohit Sharma. What will ail India the most isn’t their loss, but the manner in which they were outplayed. They were never in the game in either innings. Next, India goes to Cape Town, and both teams play their first game of 2024 there. India will fight for a win to draw the series and take back some crucial WTC points and respect home, and South Africa will fight for a whitewash and another comprehensive victory with a young team. Squad updates have India adding Avesh Khan to their squad credit to his extraordinary performance in the SA-A vs IND-A test match. Hopefully, the weather stays clear, and we get an exciting fixture on our hands. See you in Cape Town.
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