Team India wasn’t able to put up a formidable resistance in the morning session of Day Five of the second Test against South Africa in Centurion. Lungi Ngidi’s fiery bowling and some reckless shot selection cost India the Centurion Test by 135 runs before lunch.
Rohit Sharma played with a lot of freedom in 2nd innings, but go dismissed after scoring 47. Apart from him, only Mohammed Shami (28) showed some grit in the pursuit of chasing the target of 287.
The proceedings of Day 5 started with Cheteshwar Pujara and Parthiv Patel in the middle. The duo had a huge task in front of themselves with Virat Kohli, already back in the pavilion. Nonetheless, Pujara had other plans. He became the first Indian to get run out in both the innings of a Test by committing a grave blunder of taking AB de Villiers’ arm lightly.
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Parthiv had got a nasty blow in his ribcage ahead of the end of Day 4 in the Centurion Test. However, he stuck around and looked positive and kept the scoreboard ticking in his brief stay. Patel’s innings ended by a short delivery. He went for a pull and was caught brilliantly by Morne Morkel at the deep fine leg.
While Pujara fell prey to a horrible judgment, Hardik Pandya played a pathetic shot to a short, wide delivery with extra bounce. He attempted an uppercut, got a thick edge and India slipped further down to 87 for 7. In the first Test, India was reduced to 92 for 7 and 95 for 7. The batting collapses led to India’s series defeat.
Following Pandya’s dismissal, Rohit had a decent partnership of 54 runs with Shami to delay the result. They played their shots and kept the scoreboard ticking despite few hits and misses. Rohit looked in completed control as he had got the license to go for the kill. He played it late against the incoming deliveries, resorted to playing anything pitched outside off and kept the strike to himself on most of the occasions. Shami, on the other hand, rode on his luck before falling for a 24-ball 28.
Sharma got out on a short delivery. He was moving around the crease in order to play the hook shot. He departed 3 runs short off a fifty and also his highest fourth-innings score.
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India’s tail rode their luck to get some batting practice. The innings was hardly stretched following Rohit’s exit. As a result, India lost the second Test by 135 runs.
The visitors remarkable run in Test cricket at home came to a halt. They were tied with England and Australia (9) with most consecutive series victories, and have been brought to the mat by the No. 2 ranked squad.
Brief scores
South Africa: 335 and 258 (D Elgar 61, AB de Villiers 80; M Shami 4/48, J Bumrah 3/70) defeated India: 307 and 151 (R Sharma 47, M Shami 28; L Ngidi 6/39, K Rabada 3/47) by 135 runs.
Man of the Match: Lungi Ngidi
