India lost the boxing day test match from South Africa at Centurion. This defeat was not a small one as India lost this match by an innings and 32 runs. Only Virat Kohli showed some resistance in their second innings by making 76 runs but 9 Indian players got out with only a single-digit score.
Highlights of the 1st Innings:
South Africa won the toss and elected to field first which turned out to be a good decision for them as they restricted the visitors on 245 runs. In their first innings KL Rahul was the only batsman to impress as he went on to make 101 runs. Rabada with his brilliant bowling took 5 wickets by giving 59 runs.
Main contribution with the bat came from Dean Elgar who made 185 runs in the first Innings. David Bedingham and Marco Jansen also contributed to the score with 56 and 84 runs respectively. South Africa managed to take 163 runs lead in their first innings as they made 408 runs in total. Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers as he took 4 wickets by giving 69 runs.
Highlights of the 2nd Innings:
India’s batting was a total flop in the second innings as none of the batter felt comfortable out there in the middle. Indian skipper after making just 5 runs in the first innings got out on a Golden Duck in the second innings. Only India’s premium batting master Virat Kohli played confidently for his 76 runs but he didn’t get any support from the other end. Due to great bowling by Nandre Burger and Marco Jansen who shared 7 wickets between them, restricted India to 131 runs in just 34 overs.
Man of the Match:
For his great performance by Dean Elgar in the first innings (185 runs) which set the tone for the home side win. He was named as the player of the match.
India has lost the 1st test match of 2-match test series. Now they will be under immense pressure in the second test match to win it if they have to level this series.
Schedule of 2nd Test Match:
2nd Test Match – India vs South Africa – on January 3rd, 2024 at Cape Town.