South African opener Dean Elgar feels that Virat Kohli’s dismissal was crucial but the team still needs to get seven wickets on Day 5 to seal the Centurion Test. South Africa has given a target of 287 runs to chase for Team India in the fourth innings of the second Test.
During the pres-conference at the end of Day 4, talking about the Virat’s dismissal, Elgar said, “It’s massive for us and I think it’s massive for India, knowing he is not batting. He’s a very special batsman as we saw in the first innings and we knew it was a massive moment to get him out. But we all knew it was possible because he is human and he can also fail. I am sitting here with a smile on my face knowing there is one less very competitive, very talented guy that we don’t have to deal with.”
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He further elaborated, “We need to get seven wickets somehow, we don’t really care how. We just need to execute our processes. The wicket will play into our hands nicely with our seamers and Keshav Maharaj coming in on what is proving to be a decent spinning wicket. Our fast bowlers thrive on bowling on wickets like this. If they can get the ball to reverse as soon as possible it will be a massive asset.”
The Proteas opener had to struggle for his runs but he managed to keep himself on the crease and went on to score a useful 61. Describing his innings, Dean said, “We had to try and bat as long as possible. There was so much time left in the game. We knew we had to knuckle down and work in small segments. Our first target was to reach drinks and then as we started getting used to the pace of the wicket, run-scoring opportunities proved to be easier. That was the nature throughout the day.”
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When asked about the pitch condition in Centurion, Elgar said he was disappointed as home countries usually get favorable pitches. He described, “First and foremost I am not a curator of a cricket ground. We give an indication of what we would like as a team playing against the various opposition, and being the home country you have that right. As it’s working out, the wicket is playing in our favor. If the shoe was on the other foot, I think we would feel quite hard done by.”
Despite the fact that Team India faced a huge blow when Lungi Ngidi affected the dismissal of Virat Kohli, but by looking at the batting depth of the visitors, the South Africans can’t feel relaxed in the game.
