TEAM INDIA BEGINS 2024 ON A HISTORIC HIGH, CRUSHES PROTEAS IN SHORTEST TEST EVER

Who said Test matches were boring? The gripping manner in which Team India outplayed South Africa at a venue they have never won before in just under 2 days was simply sensational! The series-levelling win at picturesque Cape Town came in just 642 balls, making it the shortest Test match in cricket history! The roller-coaster win also saw India swing from the 6th position on the World Test Championship table to the first after the superb victory. But the talking point of the match was the pitch, which made wickets tumble like a pack of cards.

Rohit Sharma played it up at the post-match conference too saying- “don’t mind playing on pitches like this. As long as everyone keeps their mouths shut and doesn’t talk too much about Indian pitches.” An interesting comment indeed given that in 3 weeks India starts a 5 match Test series with England in India!

Coming into the match India was under a lot of pressure as they had performed well below par in the first Test. The pictures published in mainstream media before the match showed a green top waiting for the visitors, who couldn’t bat well on a bouncy pitch at Centurion just a week ago. While everyone thought India might capitulate, they drew the first blood and bundled the Proteas out for a meagre 55.

South African captain, Dean Algar, chose to bat first in his final Test match but Indian bowlers had a nice farewell planned for him as he was dismissed for just 4.

Indian pacers, especially Siraj, were relentless and had learnt their lessons from the loss in Centurion. Siraj bowled short of good length and the pitch, which was misbehaving in that particular zone, did the rest. The result was that South Africa was decimated before lunch on the first day with Siraj taking 6 wickets for just 15 runs. He was ably supported by Bumrah and Mukesh Kumar who picked up 2 wickets apiece.

South African bowlers weren’t like their counterparts and sprayed the new ball all over which helped India get off to a steady start. Yashasvi Jaiswal fell early but Rohit along with Shubman took India past the South African total and in the lead. It looked as if India would bat the opposition out of the contest. But it wasn’t to be. Once the effects of the hard roller wore down, the pitch started playing tricks again. India lost both the settled batters in quick succession.

It was a Virat show after that, as King Kohli took the responsibility of run scoring on himself. In a partnership of 43 with K.L.Rahul, he did the bulk of the scoring while Rahul added just 8. At 153 for 4, India was sitting pretty as the lead had swelled to 98. But the cricketing Gods had written the script of the Test very differently! India, in another world record, lost 6 wickets for 0 runs! As stunning as it was, India was dismissed in just 2 overs after the steady partnership between Kohli and Rahul.

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONAL

Siddhaarth Mahan The writer is a specialist on Sports and Cinema who works as an actor in the Hindi film industry