SA vs IND | 2nd Test, Day 4: Elgar defies pitch, quality pacers to lead Proteas' roaring comeback

South Africa stunned India and chased down the target of 240 runs with seven wickets in hand to draw level the three-match long Test series. Skipper Dean Elgar led from the front and hit the winning runs, reaching 96 to lift Proteas to their first win over India at the Wanderers. 

No one would have given them any chance after India set them the target of 240 runs albeit by stumbling and hence, Dean Elgar made it almost look like that he said the Indian bowlers that they could achieve victory only by passing over his body.

Jasprit Bumrah threatened him with the bouncer, Ravichandran Ashwin threatened him with his guile and drift while Mohammad Shami and Shardul Thakur kept on challenging him outside off stump, but Elgar was both resilient in absorbing the relentless attack and also confident in his defence to not get fed up by a barrage of unplayable deliveries. 

He was also not lured into playing expansive shots and resisted adopting the philosophy of batting that suggests pitches such as the one at Wanderers present an unpayable delivery that has a batsman’s name on it. He treated the ball on its merit and never offered straight bat at deliveries outside except when things started to fall apart for India on the fourth and final day.

Coming into the fourth day, the goal was simple and clear for both sides. India needed to strike and strike regularly to make the remaining 122 look like a lot more while the Proteas wanted to chip away the required run.

The Test had shown a trend of fluent scoring in the first hour on each playing day and it continued on the fourth day despite delayed start and loss of play till the tea interval.

India continued to search for wickets and tried too many things on the surface where they needed to bang in on the good length and left everything on the fortunes. They offered a plethora of short balls and played with the ego of both Elgar and Rassie van der Dussen and the natural variation off the pitch that could have been their weapon on the day, turned against them as they offered wides that sailed over the wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant’s head. India opened the tap and South Africa cashed in with 52 runs in the first 11 overs of the day and the target was trimmed to a point where Elgar and Rassie could see the pressure on Indian bowlers. 

The right-hander, in particular, attacked short balls and by the time India switched back to doing the basics right, the Proteas were out of the woods and the hosts were in with a real chance of achieving what no one could hope they would be pulling off.

Shami finally found a delivery that shaped away off the pitch and took Rassie’s bat but Temba Bavuma was the best man to come out for the Proteas and he batted with supreme confidence and control to not allow too many opportunities. Shardul Thakur could have been that man for India once again but his act of being human by missing a catch of Bavuma’s bat emphasized it was not to be India’s day and Elgar thumped Ashwin to samp his authority on the game and announced a roaring come back of the Proteas in the series.