Dean Elgar played his final Test innings after being dismissed twice on Day 1. Following his dismissal in the second innings, both Kohli and the Indian team praised him. For batsmen on both sides, the first day of the second Test between South Africa and India turned out to be a nightmare. With Mohammed Siraj’s career-best numbers of 6/15 leading the way and India bundling the hosts out for a record-low score of 55, South Africa was the first to take the brunt of the pitch.
With KL Rahul clearly getting set and Virat Kohli three runs shy of his half-century, India appeared set to take a commanding lead early in the third session. This came after Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill put together a rapid 55 from 75 balls. But in the 34th and 35th overs of their innings, India astonishingly went from being 153/4 to 153 all out, forcing South Africa to bat once more.
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This meant that on Day 1 itself, South Africa’s acting captain, Dean Elgar, who is ending his career as an international cricket player after this Test, took the pitch for his second and final innings of play. In the opening innings, the left-hander sliced a delivery from Siraj back onto his stumps.
On the opening day, he was also greeted with applause as he left the pitch after being removed for 12 runs by Mukesh Kumar. It was a standard performance by Mukesh Kumar. His decision to circle around the wicket was crucial in this situation. With his persistent line and length, Elgar was forced to engage in play. Instead of entering with the angle to find Elgar’s bat’s outside edge, the ball ever so slightly straightened, and Kohli completed the rest of the run in the slip cordon. In this Test, both teams’ catching has been flawless.
