SA vs IND: 1st Test, Day 4: Bumrah’s late strike puts India in driver’s seat
India started with their batting show to kick off Day 4 of the Boxing Day Test in Centurion but couldn’t stretch their stay on the crease for long time. Marco Jansen and Kagiso Rabada picked four wickets each to restrict the visitors on 174 runs. Not even a single batter could open up his arms and Rishabh Pant’s 34 turned out to be the highest individual score from the Kohli-led side.
However, India’s huge score in the first innings led them take a handsome lead of 300-plus runs in the end. Dean Elgar and his men walked up once again to push the game in their favour and finished the day with 94/4.
Let’s take a look at the talking points from the day:
1. Virat Kohli fails again
Indian skipper Virat Kohli’s final Test knock of 2021 ended on another disappointing note as he got out to a similar dismissal as that in the 1st innings. Despite looking in decent touch from the start of his innings, the Indian captain once again fell prey to the channel outside off stump, this time nicking it to the wicketkeeper.
2. Dean Elgar’s fighting knock
While Elgar lost his wicket in a quick succession in the first innings, he made sure to keep striving in the second. Chasing a steep target of 305, Elgar stood at the crease with an unbeaten fifty as South Africa kept losing wickets from the other end. With the captain being settled in, India will have a task at hand going into Day 5.
3. Indian pacers impress again
While Team India’s overall batting performance has been pretty average so far, it is the pace battery that has taken the cake. The Shami-Siraj-Bumrah trio ensured South Africa stayed on the backfoot from the start of their 2nd innings. Mohammed Shami got the first breakthrough by disrupting Aiden Markram’s timber. Towards the close of play, Jasprit Bumrah delivered 2 quick wickets to give India the late edge in the game.
The final day of the Centurion is perfectly set up, with South Africa needing 211 more runs to win and India 6 wickets away from victory.
