Dean tops class

Skipper Elgar leads from the front with 96* to hand South Africa 7-wicket, series-levelling victory against India

A gutsy Dean Elgar was happy to shun elegance for efficacy as he steered South Africa to a creditable seven-wicket series-levelling victory in the second Test against India here on Thursday.

The defeat was India’s first at the Bull Ring in 30 years.

Chasing 240, skipper Elgar, who was prepared to look ugly and forgettable in terms of aesthetics that one generally associates with southpaws, carried his bat through with an unbeaten 96 to set up an exciting final Test at the Newlands in Cape Town starting January 11.

Van der Dussen shines

If Aiden Markram and Keegan Petersen gave him good support on the third day, Rassie van der Dussen (40), with an 82-run stand, ensured victory on a rain-soaked fourth day marking an inauspicious start to India captaincy for KL Rahul, who is supposed to be groomed for future leadership. Elgar had soaked in all the pressure and hostility in the third evening, which had literally blunted the Indian attack and Mohammed Siraj’s injury in a tricky chase became a huge factor.

The Proteas skipper had taken a couple of blows on the head, a few on the chest, another few on the knuckle, one on the shoulder, all of which were like badges of honour for a batter who conforms more with Shivanarine Chanderpaul School of Batsmanship rather than Brian Lara’s.

No amount of lip service could unnerve Elgar as he smirked, smiled and went about his business leaving the visitors even more frustrated.

For posterity, when one remembers this Test match, it will be very difficult to remember any of his 10 boundaries, but one won’t be able to forget the game either simply because of an exhibition of how to crush the pain barrier which seemed to be ingrained in Elgar’s DNA.

Indian batsmen flop

In hindsight, 50 more runs would have helped India immensely and while the bowlers had one rare bad innings in office, the blame should be squarely on batsmen who haven’t exactly set the stage on fire for a long time save for a few good individual performances.

In fact, it has been more about good starts over the past season save the second innings of this match. In the final context, the lowly first innings total of 202 became India’s undoing.

One
This is India’s first Test loss at The Wanderers

Brief scores
India 202 & 266 lost to South Africa 229 & 243-3 (D Elgar 96*, R van der Dussen 40, A Markram 31) by 7 wickets

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