New Delhi: Highly-rated Team India came a cropper and were crushed by an innings and 32 runs by South Africa in the opening Test of the two-match series at Centurion on Thursday.
It was a three-day humiliation for India, whose dreams of winning their first-ever Test series in South Africa were cruelly dashed on Day 3.
India’s shortcomings on pacer-friendly wickets came to the fore once again as they were bundled out for a paltry 131 in the second innings in just 34 overs.
Eight batters failed to reach double figures. Skipper Rohit Sharma fell for a duck, having managed just 5 in the first innings, Yashasvi Jaiswal made 5 (17 in first innings), Shreyas Iyer 6 (31 in first innings), first-innings centurion KL Rahul got 4, Ravichandran Ashwin a first-ball duck (8 in first innings).
Shubman Gill played a handful of gorgeous strokes in his 26 before losing stumps to Marco Jansen, while Virat Kohli was last man out for an aggressive 76.
The bowlers, except for Jasprit Bumrah (4/69), failed to exploit the helpfful conditions at SuperSport Park and let South Africa pile up 408 in their only innings.
Dean Elgar, playing his farewell series, was Man of the Match for his brilliant 185.
Brief scores: India 245 in 67.4 overs (KL Rahul 101, Virat Kohli 38; Kagiso Rabada 5/38, Nandre Burger 3/50) and 131 in 34.1 overs (Kohli 76; Burger 4/33, Marco Jansen 3/36). South Africa 408 in 108.4 overs (Dean Elgar 185, Jansen 84*, David Bedingham 56; Jasprit Bumrah 4/69, Md Siraj 2/91).
Result: South African won by an innings & 32 runs.
Man of the Match: Dean Elgar.
2nd & final Test: From Jan 3, 2024, at Cape Town.
