This victory marks a significant milestone for both Rohit Sharma and Rahul Dravid. It is the second time India have triumphed in a Test overseas under Rohit’s leadership. For Dravid, it is the first Test win as coach in a SENA country since 2021.
If Mohammed Siraj paved the way for India’s triumph by bowling South Africa out for 55 inside lunch on Day One with a spell for the ages (6/15), it was the Jasprit Bumrah who came to the party on Day Two.
Using the generous help that was in the wicket, Bumrah took 6-61, including a wicket in the first over, that of David Bedingham. Starting the day at 62/3 and still 36 in arrears, Bedingham attempted an ill-advised on-the-rise cover drive which he edged to wicketkeeper KL Rahul. It was the perfect start for Bumrah, who had beaten the bat multiple times but with few rewards.
Kyle Verreynne, trying to be ultra-aggressive miscued a pull to Siraj at mid-on. A reflex-action caught and bowled on his follow through helped Bumrah to send back the dangerous Marco Jansen and when he had Keshav Maharaj caught at gully, he had completed his ninth career five-for at a venue where he made his Test debut in 2018. Considering that he has played just 32 Tests, these are freakish stats.
The wicket was doing a lot thanks to the curious decision of the curator to leave 9 mm of grass. But someone didn’t tell that to Aiden Markram, whose 106 (103b; 17×4, 2×6) will go down as one of the great counter-attacking Test knocks. Be it standing tall and punching through the off-side between point and cover, or essaying the cover drive on the up, Markram, despite the customary play and miss, gave ample evidence of why he is rated so highly. India skipper Rohit was forced to employ defensive fields for the first four balls of the over and target batters at the other end.
Siraj has had Markram’s number in the series, dismissing him at Centurion and the first innings here and his delayed introduction raised eyebrows about Rohit’s tactics. Siraj, though, got his man again as Markram holed out to deepish mid-off attempting a big hit.
With a target of 79 to get, Yashasvi Jaiswal summoned the T20 dasher in him as he and Rohit put the chase to bed with a turbo-charged stand of 44 in 5.4 overs. While India lost Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Virat Kohli, they had done enough to savour a special win.
