India's bowler Mohammed Siraj, middle, jumps as he celebrates after bowling South Africa's batsman Quinton de Kock. (AP)India vs South Africa 1st Test Highlights: India beat South Africa by 113 runs in first Test to take 1-0 lead in three-match series. Set a stiff target of 305, South Africa were bowled out for 191 on the fifth and final day of the opening Test on Thursday. At the lunch break, Temba Bavuma and Marco Jansen were batting on 34 and 5 respectively, as the hosts still trail India by 123 runs. South Africa finished the fourth day at 94/4 with skipper Dean Elgar unbeaten on 52 after Indian batters caved in on a track with uneven bounce, getting all out for 174 in just 50.3 overs.
Earlier, wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant top-scored for India in the second innings with a run-a-ball 34 as the visiting team was all out for 174 in the second innings. Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen took four wickets apiece while Lungi Ngidi got two wickets for South Africa. India had bowled South Africa out for 197 after making 327 in their first innings.
India Playing XI: KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Virat Kohli (c), Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
South Africa Playing XI: Dean Elgar (c), Aiden Markram, Keegan Petersen, Rassie van der Dussen, Temba Bavuma, Quinton de Kock (wk), Wiaan Mulder, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi
South Africa
197 (62.3) & 191 (68.0)India
327 (105.3) & 174 (50.3)India beat South Africa by 113 runs
The grit and determination - really wanted to get my team off to a good start. On a challenging pitch the opening partnership is crucial. Really happy with my performance. Don't think I've made too many technical changes. It's about my mindset, how calm and disciplined I am. It's all coming nicely now. Discipline I've shown has been the biggest contribution for me in performing away from home. It's something I'm proud of (his overseas hundreds). Kept us on the park a little lesser (Shami). Fast bowling unit have shown a lot of heart, not just today but the last few years. Happy with the way Shami bowled and the way other guys chipped in as well. Shami gets the ball to do a little bit extra as Virat said. Very very special coming to SA. This win gives us a lot of confidence. Want to keep getting better as individuals and try to win another Test in few days time.
Got off to the perfect start. Have to understand one day was washed out - shows how well we played. It's always a difficult place to play against SA (Centurion). The discipline that the batters showed. Winning the toss, batting first overseas is a tough challenge. Credit to Mayank and KL the way they set it up. We knew we were in pole position with anything over 300-320. Knew the bowlers will do the job. Spoke about it in the change room - the fact he didn't bowl much in the first innings, it allowed SA to get around 40 more runs (Bumrah). Just the way these guys bowl together has been a hallmark of our team getting a result in difficult situations. Absolutely world class talent (Shami). For me he's in the best three seamers in the world at the moment. His strong wrist, his seam position and his ability to hit a length consistently. Got so much confidence out of Johannesburg last time. It's a ground we love playing at.
Obviously not a nice thing knowing we lost a Test here. Did a few things wrong. Lot of positives coming out that we can use in the next two. Always the nature here. Always going to be tough because the wicket's playing slower (first morning). Indian openers did the fundamentals right. We didn't quite execute the lengths well. After some good chats our bowlers executed the lengths and restricted India to what we thought was a par score. New ball is something you have to get through playing here. Can't emphasise enough on the hard work our bowlers put in to get 20 wickets. Our batters let us down. I'd say the batting was the difference between the two sides. We'll have a little sit-down with myself and the management to strategise. Didn't do a lot of wrong things. Not all doom and gloom for us. We strive under the pressure which is a positive for us.
123 runs Jo'burg 2006/07
87 runs Durban 2010/11
63 runs Jo'burg 2017/18
113 runs Centurion 2021/22
R Ashwin takes the final two wickets off consecutive deliveries and Mohammad Shami finishes with eight as Team India becomes the first Asian team to win a Test at Centurion.
CAUGHT ! Rabada is caught by Mohammed after going for a drive. SA: 191/9 after 67.5 overs.
And back-to-back boundaries for Jansen at the start but he doesn't last long and edges the second-last ball of the over to the wicketkeeper and Pant takes it cleanly. India are now two wickets away from a win. SA: 190/8 after 67 overs
So lunch has been taken on the final day and it is Temba Bavuma who stands between India and a victory. It seems improbable that home team can save this game now. Bumrah Siraj and Shami were all phenomenal with the ball in the first session. SA: 182/7 after 66 overs and require 123 runs to win.
It's all happening here in Centurion as Siraj throws the first ball of the 62nd over at Bavuma which hits Bavuma on the left ankle. Physician is out and attends to him. This act of bowlers hitting the batsman in follow-through, esp when no run is attempted, has to qualify for an offence. Siraj will probably be fined 15 per cent of his match fees for breaching Level 1 of the ICC Code of Conduct.
Mulder has to go after Shami pitches one up and finds the outside edge of the bat. SA: 164/7 after 60.2 overs
Siraj breaks the 31-run sixth-wicket stand to dismiss Quinton de Kock for 21. De Kock (21) drags Siraj onto his stumps as the Proteas lose their sixth wicket. India four wickets away from a 1-0 series lead. He brings out the SIUUU celebration again. SA: 164/6 after 60 overs
India's premier spinner has bowled only 5 of 57 overs in the fourth innings? Has he been under-bowled or have the seamers been that good this morning? SA: 153/5 after 57 overs
Driven through covers by Bavuma and that's 150 on the board for the hosts. One hour gone and India have managed to get the wicket of the dangerous Dean Elgar for 77. Temba Bavuma (15*) and Quinton de Kock (3*) are at the crease for the hosts. SA: 150/5 after 56 overs.
How good is Bumrah and what about his cricketing brain? Here is how the Indian pacer ended Elgar's vigil at the crease --
After completing the over, Bumrah says: "Arre bhai cap leke wapas toh diya karo" ( return the cap after taking it). Meanwhile, Bumrah has become the fastest Indian bowler to complete Keycap digit oneKeycap digit zeroKeycap digit zero Test dismissals overseas. He's done it in just 22 matches.
A length ball from Boom and it nips back just enough in from outside off and hits Dean Elgar on the pads. Elgar is going to review this. Ultra edge reveals nothing. What about ball tracking? Three reds and it's gone! SA: 130/5 after 50.5 overs.
Elgar gets the measure of Bumrah and gets two boundaries in the over. The first one is a bit streaky towards third man and the next is towards deep square. SA: 126-4
Elgar survives on 63 as Shami fails to cling on to the ball of his own bowling. Unlucky Nelson doesn't strike. SA: 111/4 after 45.4 overs
The mindset for the Proteas today must be a target of 200 with 6 wickets in hand, not 305. That's achievable with enough overs. Can the batsmen stick around? First hour will decide which team is in good position. Important first hour for both teams. SA: 105/4 after 43 overs
Temba Bavuma plays a crisp cover drive off Jasprit Bumrah. The sound of the bat on the ball was just cricketing perfection. A boundary for Elgar in the 2nd over and a boundary for Bavuma in the 3rd over. 200 required to win.
The Indians are on time and out at the center. Kohli sets the fields, and it is Bavuma who will take strike against Bumrah for the last ball of the over that couldn't be bowled yesterday. Quietly played SA: 94/4 after 41 overs
Asian teams have lost each of the 11 previous Tests they have played in Centurion. Can India change the script?
Only two instances of a team scoring 200+ on the fifth day to win a Test in SA
214 Eng v SA Joburg 1909/10
203 Aus v SA Cape Town 2001/02
“We didn’t; pick this ball!” Suddenly, just as the South African chase was about to begin, R Ashwin said those words and started to walk towards the umpires. In the background, Virat Kohli started to walk too, saying, “We were never given the option to pick the ball”. The umpires agreed and called the fourth umpire to come over with the box set of the new balls.
The convention is that the fielding team gets to pick a ball from a box of dozen balls. It appears that R Ashwin is the ball-picker for India. Even as one of his teammates said something (not clear what he said,) Ashwin quickly said in Hindi, “bolna mat!” (Don’t say) and one assumes it meant don’t say that to the umpire. (READ FULL STORY)
For 10th successive overseas Test innings, Virat Kohli got out, chasing deliveries outside off stump. After the day’s play, India’s batting coach Vikram Rathour suggested that the skipper needed to be more judicious in terms of picking the balls.
If Lungi Ngidi had induced Kohli to play away from his body in the first innings, this time it was the rookie pacer Marco Jansen who got him. On both occasions, Kohli had played himself in and was looking to be in control. For two years on the spin, India’s best batsman failed to score a Test hundred. If the pandemic-hit 2020 had very little long-form cricket, Kohli played 11 Tests in 2021. (READ FULL STORY)
A dogged partnership needed something special to break. Virat Kohli handed over the ball to Jasprit Bumrah and he did the rest. A well-set Rassie van der Dussen, who had faced 64 balls by then, could do nothing to that Bumrah special.
The previous delivery provided the set-up, bowled from closer to the stumps and a little fuller. Van der Dussen had played it towards cover. Then, Bumrah went a little wide of the crease, bowled on length, the angle-switch forcing the deception. The batsman thought he had the line covered and shouldered arms, only to see the ball breaking back sharply to hit the top of off stump. Even for a set batsman, it was unplayable, but that’s what Bumrah does, opening up the game for India. This time, he did it to break a gritty 40-run third wicket partnership between Dean Elgar and van der Dussen, bowling what was the Ball of the Match yet. (READ FULL STORY)
India’s experienced middle-order trio of Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, and Ajinkya Rahane hasn’t scored big runs for a couple of years now and ended 2021 with a top score of 48 across their six knocks in the Centurion Test. Their dismissals in the second innings on Wednesday were a mix of the disappointingly familiar and the shockingly uncharacteristic. (READ FULL STORY)
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the first Test between India and South Africa in Centurion. India are six wickets away from a win while South Africa rely on Dean Elgar or rain to get the 211 runs on the final day to win the match. Stay tuned for all the live action right here.