Mohammed Siraj took a stunning six-for as a resurgent India skittled South Africa for 55 – their eighth lowest Test total ever – before the hosts fought back to dismiss the tourists for 153 – on the first day of the second Test in Newlands, Cape Town.
Siraj (6-15) picked up six wickets inside his nine overs as he finished on his best bowling figures in Test cricket with India’s quicks Jasprit Bumrah (2-25) and Mukesh Kumar (2-0) getting two wickets apiece, while South Africa made their lowest Test score since 1932.
Kyle Verreynne’s 15 was South Africa’s highest score as the hosts collapsed losing five wickets for only 21 runs and were bowled out before lunch in 23.2 overs after winning the toss and electing to bat.
In reply, South Africa’s Lungi Ngidi (3-30) and Nandre Burger (3-42) fought back to turn the tide as India were all out for 153 and became the first team to lose six wickets without scoring a run in a Test innings.
South Africa won the first Test by an innings and 32 runs at Centurion Park with Dean Elgar scoring a spectacular 185 on his farewell tour and it remains the only country where India have not won a Test series.
Resurgent India stun South Africa
Siraj struck early removing Aiden Markram (two) and stand-in skipper Elgar (four) by the sixth over before debutant Tristan Stubbs (three) only survived 11 balls before the 23-year-old was caught at short leg by India’s skipper Rohit Sharma.
Tony de Zorzi (two) also struggled against Siraj after he was caught at leg slip to leave the hosts faltering at 54-4. The right-arm seamer struck twice in the 16th over after he had David Bedingham (12) caught at third slip and Marco Jansen (0) caught behind for a duck two balls later.
Kyle Verreynne (15) edged to Shubman Gill at second slip to gift Siraj his sixth wicket, whilst pace bowler Bumrah removed Nandre Burger (four) to leave South Africa 55-9.
Mukesh Kumar (2-0) mopped up the tail removing Keshav Maharaj (three) and Kagiso Rabada (five), without conceding a run during his 2.2 overs.
South Africa fight back
Kagiso Rabada (3-38) removed India’s opener Yashasvi Jaiswal (0) before their captain Sharma (39) and Shubman Gill (36) shared a 55-run partnership, the same number of runs South Africa made in their first innings.
Burger made good use of the bounce at Newlands which saw both Sharma and Gill caught at gully by Jansen before Shreyas Iyer was removed for a duck as India slipped to 110-4.
KL Rahul (eight) and Virat Kohli (46) added 44-runs between them to drag their side to 153-4 but Ngidi forced a lower-order collapse taking his three wickets in the 32nd over.
The South African quick had Rahul caught behind whilst Ravi Jadeja (0) and Jasprit Bumrah (0) were caught at gully before they could do any damage.
India’s players bid farewell to Dean Elgar after his final innings in Test cricket
Rabada also took three wickets in the following over, dismissing Kohli, having Mohammad Siraj (0) run out, and Prasidh Krishna caught at second slip to wrap up the first two innings in 349 balls, the second-fewest ever in Test cricket.
Elgar (12) hit two boundaries during his final outing in Test cricket before he edged to Kohli at second slip. The retiring South African great walked off to a standing ovation from the crowd at Newlands and received hugs from the India players.
Rahul took two catches in the third session to dismiss De Zorzi (one) and Stubbs (one) cheaply and leave South Africa 62-3 at stumps with Aiden Markram (36no) and David Bedingham (7no) still at the crease.
Elgar: A crazy day of Test cricket
Retiring South African legend Dean Elgar speaking to Sky Sports Cricket:
“It was a crazy day of Test cricket, it’s one of those wickets you don’t know what can happen,” said Elgar.
“It was nice of the India players to shake my hand and say thank you for the memories and challenges along the way. There’s been quite a few and it was a nice little gesture. I appreciate it.
“I’ve played against a few of these guys for more than a decade. Rohit [Sharma] and I go back to Under-19s and we’re still playing against each other. There’s a lot of respect between the two nations even though we have immensely fierce rivalries.
“I said to Kumar ‘I’m the last one in your pocket’ and we had a chuckle.
“I can’t fault our bowlers for the effort they were putting in. Half-volley’s and edging the ball happens but their attitude and the way they came out was pretty good.”
What’s next?
The second and final Test is scheduled to be played from Wednesday January 3 – Sunday January 7 2024 in Newlands, Cape Town.
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