Cave Town: A day of collapses sees 23 wickets fall as India lead South Africa by 36 runs

CAPE TOWN, January 3

South Africa closed an extraordinary see-saw first day of the second and final Test against India at Newlands on 62/3 in their second innings, trailing the tourists by 36 runs after 23 wickets and several records fell today.

Aiden Markram (36 not out) and David Bedingham (7 not out) will hope to bat on and set India a challenging target on the second day.

Seamer Mohammed Siraj took a career-best six for 15 as the visitors skittled their hosts for 55 in the first innings after the latter elected to bat on a wicket offering plenty of assistance to the bowlers.

India were going well at 153/4 in reply before they lost six wickets without scoring a run, the first time that has happened in Tests. The list of unwanted milestones did not stop there for the visitors as they had six batsmen dismissed for ducks – which equalled the previous record.

2 Mohammed Siraj’s 6/15 are the second-best bowling figures before lunch on the first day of a men’s Test match. Only Stuart Broad has done better, taking 8/15 against Australia in 2015

55 South Africa’s total in Cape Town is their seventh-lowest in Test cricket and their lowest since 1932 when they made 36 and 45 against Australia in Melbourne

6 Wickets for 0 runs as India collapsed from 153/4 to 153 all out. This is the first-ever instance of six wickets on the same score in a Test innings

349 The first two innings in the match lasted 349 balls, the second fewest in 147 years of Test cricket

The first two innings lasted 349 balls, the second fewest in 147 years of Test cricket. The only shorter instance was 287 deliveries between Australia and England in 1902.

South Africa lost captain Dean Elgar twice in the day before his retirement, which he announced ahead of the series. He scored four and 12.

I realised what I missed in the last game and wanted to compensate and I executed my plans accordingly. I wanted to hit one area consistently and I did that and got rewarded for it. Wicket looks quite similar to Centurion. Mohammed Siraj

Mukesh Kumar (2/25) grabbed Elgar’s wicket in the second innings, and that of Tony de Zorzi (2 and 1), while Jasprit Bumrah removed debutant Tristan Stubbs (3 and 1) as the home side were left teetering at the close.

South Africa were pegged back in their first innings by a superb nine-over spell from Siraj, who bowled an impeccable line and length and made full use of the movement off the surface.

The home batters were at times the architects of their own downfall as they made poor decisions around shot selection, especially the lower-order, who tried to hit their way out of trouble but only fell deeper into it.

South Africa’s paltry score was their lowest since 1932 at a venue where New Zealand were bowled out for 45 in 2013 and Australia for 47 in 2011.

Their previous lowest innings total against India in Tests was 79 at Nagpur in 2015. At home it was 130 at the same Newlands venue in 2018. — Reuters

Scoreboard

South Africa 1st innings

A Markram c Jaiswal b Siraj 2

D Elgar b Siraj 4

T de Zorzi c Rahul b Siraj 2

T Stubbs c Sharma b Bumrah 3

D Bedingham c Jaiswal b Siraj 12

K Verreynne c Gill b Siraj 15

M Jansen c Rahul b Siraj 0

K Maharaj c Bumrah b Kumar 3

K Rabada c Iyer b Kumar 5

N Burger c Jaiswal b Bumrah 4

L Ngidi not out 0

Extras: (b 4, lb 1) 5

Total: (all out, 23.2 overs) 55

FOW: 1-5, 2-8, 3-11, 4-15, 5-34, 6-34, 7-45, 8-46, 9-55

Bowling O M R W

Jasprit Bumrah 8 1 25 2

Mohammed Siraj 9 3 15 6

Prasidh Krishna 4 1 10 0

Mukesh Kumar 2.2 2 0 2

India 1st innings

Y Jaiswal b Rabada 0

R Sharma c Jansen b Burger 39

S Gill c Jansen b Burger 36

V Kohli c Markram b Rabada 46

S Iyer c Verreynne b Burger 0

KL Rahul c Verreynne b Ngidi 8

R Jadeja c Jansen b Ngidi 0

J Bumrah c Jansen b Ngidi 0

M Siraj run out (Burger) 0

P Krishna c Markram b Rabada 0

M Kumar not out 0

Extras: (b 4, lb 10, nb 5, w 5) 24

Total: (all out, 34.5 overs) 153

FOW: 1-17, 2-72, 3-105, 4-110, 5-153, 6-153, 7-153, 8-153, 9-153

Bowling O M R W

Kagiso Rabada 11.5 2 38 3

Lungi Ngidi 6 1 30 3

Nandre Burger 8 2 42 3

Marco Jansen 9 2 29 0

South Africa 2nd innings

A Markram not out 36

D Elgar c Kohli b Kumar 12

T de Zorzi c Rahul b Kumar 1

T Stubbs c Rahul b Bumrah 1

D Bedingham not out 7

Extras: (lb 1, nb 4) 5

Total: (3 wickets, 17 overs) 62

FOW: 1-37, 2-41, 3-45

Bowling O M R W

Jasprit Bumrah 6 0 25 1

Mohammed Siraj 5 2 11 0

Mukesh Kumar 6 2 25 2