Centurion: Marco Jansen was on the verge of completing his first Test hundred, but was left stranded at 84 not out as South Africa’s first innings ended at 408 on day three of the first Test against India at SuperSport Park on Thursday.
For the Proteas, veteran opener Dean Elgar, who will retire from international cricket after the two-match Test series ends, top-scored with a majestic 185, before mixing sharp driving shots with good judgement to hit 11 fours and a six in his 84 off 147 balls.
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Thanks to the duo’s efforts and debutant David Bedingham’s 56, South Africa are now well ahead in the match with a huge lead of 163 runs on a sunny day. For India, Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of bowlers with 4-69, while Mohammed Siraj briefly shined in his 2-91.
But their change bowlers, Prasidh Krishna and Shardul Thakur, were ineffective and lacklustre in their lines and lengths while taking a wicket each, and allowed the Proteas batters to score freely in what was a disappointing bowling show from the visitors’.
A few balls into the second session, Bumrah struck to knock over Kagiso Rabada's off-stump and send it on a cartwheel ride. Jansen continued to be impressive in his drives, but Bumrah ended the innings by yorking Nandre Burger’s stumps, and Temba Bavuma didn’t come out to bat due to a left hamstring strain.
In the first session, Elgar and Jansen to put a stand of 111 runs for the sixth wicket, with the crowd cheering them on. Bumrah and Siraj produced a few plays and misses in their first six overs, but that was it and Jansen began by capitalising on Prasidh’s poor lines by taking back-to-back fours.
Elgar then feasted on Prasidh’s bowling by reaching his 150 with a nice drive in the gap between mid-off and extra cover for four off a low full toss, and followed it up with an outside edge running past third slip for four.
Jansen struck two fours off Thakur as there was no end to India’s misery, especially after KL Rahul couldn’t quickly take the chance of Jansen off Ravichandran Ashwin’s bowling.
Despite taking the new ball, South Africa continued to take runs quickly as Indian fielders’ shoulders continued to drop, with the bowlers unable to create pressure and take wickets. Jansen got his second fifty by chipping Siraj over mid-off and tickled him past fine leg for consecutive boundaries.
The duo continued to pick boundaries freely till Elgar was caught down the leg side thanks to Thakur extracting extra bounce on a back of the length delivery. It ended Elgar’s innings at 185, his second highest Test score, as the left-handed batter walked off to a standing ovation from his home crowd.
India resorted to implementing a short-ball barrage strategy, but it didn’t work as Gerald Coetzee tucked Thakur for four, followed by Jansen pulling and tickling for six and four respectively.
Coetzee then deposited Prasidh over long-on for six, before picking out mid-off against Ashwin, as the session came to a close, where Elgar and Jansen doubled South Africa’s control in the match. Post lunch, India wrapped up things quickly, but they need to bat for long to come back into the match.
Brief Scores: India 245 in 67.4 overs trail South Africa 408 in 108.4 overs (Dean Elgar 185, Marco Jansen 84 not out; Jasprit Bumrah 4-69, Mohammed Siraj 2-91) by 163 runs.
—IANS
