CENTURION: India’s dream of winning a Test series in South Africa for the first time was ended inside three days as they crashed to an innings and 32 runs defeat at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Thursday.

With the series consisting of only two matches they can at best earn a share of the honours if they win the second and final Test starting at Newlands, Cape Town on Wednesday.

India crashed to 131 all out in their second innings after conceding a 163-run first-innings lead.

A day which started with the match evenly poised turned into a rout for the tourists.

Dean Elgar (185) and Marco Jansen (84 not out) transformed a slender 11-run lead for South Africa at the start of play into a strong position.

They shared a 111-run sixth wicket partnership as South Africa took an overnight 256 for five to 408 all out despite the absent of injured captain Temba Bavuma.

Batting maestro Virat Kohli hit an aggressive 76 for India before he was last man out but the rest of the batting collapsed against South Africa’s fast bowlers on a lively pitch.

India’s second innings lasted just 34.1 overs. Kohli hit 12 fours and a six in an 82-ball innings. Shu­b­man Gill made 26 but no other batsman scored more than six.

Kagiso Rabada set the tone for South Africa, bowling Sharma for a duck with a superb delivery which deviated off the pitch to hit the off stump.

Rabada, who took five for 59 in the first innings, took two for 32 and finished the match with an outstanding diving catch at long-on to dismiss Kohli off Jansen, who took three for 36.

Left-arm fast bowler Nandre Burger completed an impressive debut Test by taking four for 33, giving him match figures of seven for 83.

Three catches went down in the slip cordon but none proved expensive.

Elgar was named man-of-the-match in his final Test on his home ground. He has announced he will retire from international cricket after the second Test.

“It was pretty special for me,” he said. “It [the pitch] was pretty juicy. You’ve got to keep it nice and simple batting in Tests. Focus on the ball, play straight and play late.”

Bavuma took no further part in the match after injuring his left hamstring on the first morning. A statement from Cricket South Africa said it had been decided he would not bat because of concern about him aggravating the injury.

There was no indication whether Bavuma would be fit for the second Test.

Elgar captained the team on the field after Bavuma’s injury and, having captained South Africa in 17 Tests, he would be favourite to take over the leadership in his final Test if Bavuma is not fit.

Meanwhile, Indian captain Rohit Sharma promised to fight back hard in the second Test after the devastating defeat on Thursday.

Rohit, who was dismissed cheaply in both innings, said India would regroup and come back strongly despite having missed the chance to take the series.

“Honestly, look, we’re not good enough to win this [Test] match,” said Rohit. “I thought we got decent runs on the board on that track in the first innings, KL Rahul did brilliantly to get us that century. But then we failed to exploit the conditions with the ball.

“Then again, we didn’t show up with the bat today as well. Our batting was poor in the second innings. If you want to win Test matches, you’ve got to come together collectively. But we failed to do that.”

Rohit also singled out Kohli’s fighting knock in the second innings.

“When you lose a game in three days, there’s not a lot of positives but like I mentioned, the way KL Rahul batted in the first innings showed a lot of us what you need to do on that kind of pitch. A lot of our bowlers haven’t been here before, they’re still learning. So I don’t want to be too critical of them.

“We will regroup, and we’ll fight back,” Rohit said. India have never won a Test at Newlands.

“It’s important for us to regroup as quickly as we can. It’s tough to take a loss like this. But as a sportsman, we all go through these kinds of times, and you need to pick yourselves up, get ready for the next challenge, which is in front of you,” he added.

SCOREBOARD

INDIA (1st Innings) 245 (K.L. Rahul 101; K. Rabada 5-59, N. Burger 3-50)

SOUTH AFRICA (1st Innings, overnight 256-5):

A. Markram c Rahul b Siraj 5

D. Elgar c Rahul b Thakur 185

T. de Zorzi c Jaiswal b Bumrah 28

K. Petersen b Bumrah 2

D. Bedingham b Siraj 56

K. Verreynne c Rahul b Krishna 4

M. Jansen not out 84

G. Coetzee c Siraj b Ashwin 19

K. Rabada b Bumrah 1

N. Burger b Bumrah 0

T. Bavuma absent injured

EXTRAS (LB-13, NB-9, W-2) 24

TOTAL (all out, 108.4 overs) 408

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-11 (Markram), 2-104 (De Zorzi), 3-113 (Petersen), 4-244 (Bedingham), 5-249 (Verreynne), 6-360 (Elgar), 7-391 (Coetzee), 8-392 (Rabada), 9-408 (Burger)

BOWLING: Bumrah 26.4-5-69-4, Siraj 24-1-91-2 (3nb, 1w), Thakur 19-2-101-1 (5nb), Krishna 20-2-93-1 (1nb, 1w), Ashwin

19-6-41-1

INDIA (2nd Innings):

Y. Jaiswal c Verreynne b Burger 5

R. Sharma b Rabada 0

S. Gill b Jansen 26

V. Kohli c Rabada b Jansen 76

S. Iyer b Jansen 6

K.L. Rahul c Markram b Burger 4

R. Ashwin c Bedingham b Burger 0

S. Thakur c Bedingham b Rabada 2

J. Bumrah run out 0

M. Siraj c Verreynne b Burger 4

P. Krishna not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-6) 8

TOTAL (all out, 34.1 overs) 131

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-5 (Sharma), 2-13 (Jaiswal), 3-52 (Gill), 4-72 (Iyer), 5-96 (Rahul), 6-96 (Ashwin), 7-105 (Thakur), 8-113 (Bumrah), 9-121 (Siraj)

BOWLING: Rabada 12-3-32-2 (1w), Burger 10-3-33-4 (1w), Jansen 7.1-1-36-3, Coetzee 5-0-28-0.

RESULT: South Africa won by an innings and 32 runs.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Dean Elgar

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2023