Two sessions were washed out due to persistent rain and it took nearly six hours for the fourth day’s play to begin in Johannesburg on Thursday (January 6). But it was worth the wait for South Africa who rode on skipper Dean Elgar’s excellent knock to win the second Test against India by seven wickets. Elgar’s unbeaten 96 not only forced a decider in Cape Town next week, but it also helped South Africa register their first win against India at the Wanderers in six attempts. This was also South Africa’s highest successful chase at this venue since readmission, surpassing the 220 they scored to win the Test against New Zealand in 2006.

After a lengthy wait, the game finally got underway at 19:15 local time and Jasprit Bumrah produced a beauty first up, getting one to seam away sharply from Rassie van der Dussen’s outside edge. He later got one to jump off a length that clipped his glove but went over gully. Van der Dussen was also not too comfortable facing Ashwin who opened the attack with Bumrah. Elgar, meanwhile, was looking solid at the other end as he brought up his fifty with a drill past mid-on for a four off Ashwin. There were also bonus runs from Bumrah who bowled an ineffective bouncer that evaded van der Dussen and the ‘keeper and resulted in five wides, with 21 runs coming in the first five overs of the day.

The target came down to double digits when Bumrah bowled one too full to van der Dussen, who managed to squeeze it away through cover for a couple having previously been struck on the midriff by a delivery that took off. Van der Dussen continued to be troubled by Bumrah’s deliveries that were hitting the crack on a good length but he hung in there and capitalised on anything full, even creaming a cover drive. Bumrah and Mohammed Shami were also a bit too straight to Elgar coming from round the wicket, not challenging the outside edge as much as they would have liked and also allowing him to rotate the strike. Meanwhile, the ball was changed a couple of times due to the wetness of the outfield. But the inconsistent bowling continued as Shami was struck for two successive fours by van der Dussen, who flicked and pulled with authority, while the bowler was also guilty of conceding five wides with a desperate bouncer.

Shardul Thakur was eventually introduced into the attack and he found the outside edge of van der Dussen’s bat but a fielder wasn’t stationed at gully and the result was a four, while the next boundary in the same over was a powerful drive off the back foot. More than 50 runs were scored in the much-delayed first hour of play before Shami struck to end the partnership worth 82 by having van der Dussen edge to Pujara at first slip. Shami had Elgar flashing at one outside off and the ball went over the slip cordon for a boundary while Thakur put down a catch off his own bowling to give Temba Bavuma a reprieve. The required runs came down to fifty when Elgar struck two back to back fours off Shami, driving through mid on and steering the ball past gully.

India’s hopes of putting South Africa under pressure with quick wickets did not materialise as Bavuma settled into a partnership with Elgar and even struck a couple of attractive cover drives to the boundary off Bumrah. Mohammed Siraj, who bowled the 65th over, was taken to the cleaners by Elgar who pulled and steered two successive fours, and also carved a boundary over point in the same over. Those weren’t the only runs in the over as Siraj also gave away five wides and his helplessness reflected that of his team as South Africa marched to victory with Elgar poetically scoring the winning runs with a boundary off Ashwin.

The seeds of South Africa’s victory were sown on the opening day when Marco Jansen bagged four wickets while Kagiso Rabada and Duanne Olivier picked up three wickets to restrict India to 202 in their first innings. KL Rahul, standing in as skipper for an injured Virat Kohli, scored 50 while Ashwin struck 46. But India lacked other notable contributions and folded inside 64 overs. Keegan Petersen and Temba Bavuma then scored half-centuries and helped South Africa edge ahead by 27 runs despite Thakur’s career-best 7 for 61. Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane hit brisk half-centuries to set South Africa a target of 240, which wasn’t quite enough thanks to a captain’s knock from Elgar who endured multiple body blows and stood towering over the rest in the end.

Brief scores:

India 202 (KL Rahul 50, R Ashwin 46; Marco Jansen 4-31, Kagiso Rabada 3-64, Duanne Olivier 3-64) & 266 (Ajinkya Rahane 58, Cheteshwar Pujara 53; Lungi Ngidi 3-43, Marco Jansen 3-67, Kagiso Rabada 3-77) lost to South Africa 229 (Keegan Petersen 62, Temba Bavuma 51; Shardul Thakur 7-61) & 243/3 (Dean Elgar 96*, Rassie van der Dussen 40; R Ashwin 1-26, Shardul Thakur 1-47) by 7 wickets.

(Cricbuzz)