STUMPS Day 2: South Africa - 256/5 (66), D Elgar 140(211)* , D Bedingham 56(87). India - 245/10, KL Rahul 101(137). South Africa leads by 11 runs.
Day 2 of the South Africa versus India boxing day test saw two glamorous hundreds, some great bowling, and some real fighting test cricket. India only batted for 8.4 overs today, adding 37 runs and losing 2 wickets. KL Rahul and Mohammed Siraj started proceedings and Rahul once again began in an attacking manner, putting away more balls, as he knew the need was to score quickly. South Africa’s Dean Elgar put up a magnificent unbeaten 140 putting South Africa in front. Let’s catch up with all the important events of the day.
Rahul Produces Another Masterclass
Siraj seemed to have gotten a few net sessions under his belt after stumps on day 1. Coetzee opened up Day 2 for the Proteas and Siraj looked comfortable facing several 140+ short-pitched deliveries. He didn’t try to put bat to ball when the ball zipped past outside off, instead, was calm, India looked determined to make a statement score on the second day here and salvage whatever they could.
But Rabada was still Rabada. He bowled a maiden in his second over to KL, where three balls left KL absolutely puzzled. One flew so close to the edge, that South Africa even reviewed it. Of course, Rahul survived. And then Rahul started getting back into the groove there. He hit 3 boundaries in the next 3 overs and hit a four and a six in the following over to get to 95. India had quietly managed 30 runs in 6 overs and had an incredible start to the day. But the dream was short-lived, as Coetzee got Siraj in the 66th over, and India was 9 down for 238. In the same over, off the last ball, KL hit a six to get to his 8th test hundred, a magnificent knock under pressure, where KL had been unusually aggressive, always capitalizing on bad balls. Probably the second-best test knock of his career on a very very difficult wicket.
Centurion’s 22 yards were still seemingly difficult to bat on. And KL was soon castled by Burger, ending India’s innings on 245. A valiant effort to salvage what could have been a horrendous collapse. Credit should of course go to Rahul, who single-handedly stitched together a masterclass and a workshop of batting in South Africa. A player that had struggled to get going in his first few deliveries, showed that a bit of patience and good technique can go a long way in getting you success in this format. KL shone, once again under pressure, in an innings where India’s second-highest scorer was Kohli with a 64-ball 38.
But the Centurion wicket was still difficult to bat on, and if India had bowled well, 245 was a decent score, and if India found it tough to get there, South Africa could too. But here was the difference between their pace attacks. South Africa had 4 fantastic fast bowlers, all of them could use pace and bounce to their strengths and get swing and bounce off that wicket. Indians could too, but they lacked a couple of genuine skillful pacers. Their opening attack of Bumrah and Siraj was as good as any, getting swing, accuracy, and bounce that troubled the South Africans, which also resulted in Aiden Markram walking back to the hut in the 4th over. But their next two options consisted of a debutant and an all-rounder. This was India’s weakness, and the Proteas extracted everything they could from the second spell.
South Africa Pile on Runs
Siraj got Markram off a brilliant outswinger very early on. Markram walked back in the 4th over and 245 didn’t seem all that bad. Bumrah and Siraj bowled some terrific overs at the start. According to ESPNCricinfo, 12 of the first 30 balls of the innings induced false shots, Markram was victim to one. But Elgar was extremely skillful in surviving that onslaught. Elgar approaches a unique technique in test cricket. A technique that has helped him score plentiful runs in hostile South African conditions. “Hit and Miss” is his way to go.
Most batsmen push on deliveries. It’s an instinctive feeling when you bat, you want to follow the ball and push it into gaps. But Elgar makes sure not to follow the seam of the ball in the initial overs. This is how he has opened for the majority of his test career, and scored 5000+ runs at an average of 37.28. This is how he survived the initial overs, bowlers couldn’t get him to produce false shots, make no mistake, he missed a lot of balls, and was very scratchy to begin his innings, and to some extent, he was lucky. But a majority of the credit goes to his skills and patience to play out the frontliners, because he knew the next two pacers would be much easier to score runs off.
Post-lunch, India began with Prasidh and Shardul. The next 8 overs post-lunch produced 42 runs. For context, the 16 overs before that produced 49 runs. Rohit brought back Bumrah and Siraj, but Elgar was already set, he had his eyes on the ball and understood the wicket’s pace and bounce very well. That was it. De Zorzi and Elgar produced a 93-run partnership since Markram’s wicket, the majority of runs coming from that post-lunch phase. The front liners were brought back, and they immediately struck, the proteas went from 104/1 to 113/3. That induces questions, was Rohit right to start post-lunch with his weaker bowlers? Probably starting your best bowlers after a long break would be better, as that would have been the best opportunity for a wicket, that is maybe hindsight, but Bumrah and Siraj put on display what they could do when brought back, the pressure they created induced mistakes, and Bumrah took two incredible wickets.
The debutant David Bedingham was impressive on debut, joining hands with Elgar to form a breezy 121-run partnership. He got an impressive 50 whilst Elgar went on to get his first test century at Centurion in his final game. He will now end his test career with a century on every South African ground he has played on. One of the finest South African players completed yet another masterful 100. 80 runs of his 100 were boundaries, most coming through the off-side. Off-side scoring is usually not what he's known for, but hey, never too late to adapt.
South Africa scored 145 runs in the second session, the most in a single session they have scored since 2018. India struck back with two quick wickets at the end of play before the players were called off due to bad light. South Africa ended the day at 256/5 with an unbeaten Dean Elgar batting on 140, and Marco Jansen on 3. With Temba Bavuma yet to come, of course, there’s uncertainty around his fitness. They lead India by 11 runs.
With 5 wickets in hand and 3 days yet to play in this match, South Africa is in the driving seat. But, India is not out of the game yet. All three results are still possible, and India can absolutely make a comeback. The 22 yards still have demons in them, and India can opt for a new ball in 14 overs tomorrow morning. If Bumrah and Siraj can extract swing with the new ball in the morning, India will be right back in the game. For South Africa, they will be aiming to get anywhere above 350. A 100+ lead will tilt the game towards them heavily. And Elgar, the manner in which he’s batting, it’s going to be an exciting battle in the morning. Heads up, hopefully, rain and bad light stay away, we have a ball game.
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