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Indian batters failed to put up a fight on Day 3 of the Centurion Test as South Africa won the match by an innings and 32 runs. Virat Kohli turned out to be the lone warrior as he scored a half-century while India were bundled out for 131 within two sessions.
This is South Africa’s second win by an innings and runs in home conditions. Interestingly, the previous one came in Centurion as well. In 2010, Graeme Smith's South Africa beat MS Dhoni's India by an innings and 25 runs.
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Earlier, starting the day at 256/5, Dean Elgar and Marco Jansen kept Indian bowlers at bay. Elgar reached 150 with a boundary. He took 228 deliveries to reach the milestone. Ravichandran Ashwin managed to force an outside edge off Jansen's bat which was dropped by KL Rahul. He was batting on 25 then. Jansen targetted pacers Shardul Thakur and Mohammed Siraj. He reached his half-century with consecutive fours.
The partnership was broken by Thakur. Elgar was dismissed by a harmless delivery down the leg side. The opener scored 185 runs from 287 balls featuring 28 fours. Jansen took on Thakur again and Gerald Coetzee joined him. Coetzee was dropped by Shubman Gill at first slip off Ashwin's bowling.
Coetzee smashed Prasidh Krishna for a six in the next over. Ashwin had the last laugh as he dismissed Coetzee in the next over. He contributed with 19 runs from 18 balls. Jasprit Bumrah came back into the attack and sent Kagiso Rabada's off stump for a walk. Jansen continued to hit boundaries. Bumrah wrapped up the proceedings with the wicket of Nandre Burger. He got bowled for a 20-ball duck. On the other end, Jansen remained unbeaten for 84 off 147 balls including 11 fours and a six. South Africa posted 408 on the board as an injured Temba Bavuma did not come out to bat.
Trailing by 163 runs, India lost early wickets. Skipper Rohit Sharma got bowled for a five-ball duck by Rabada. Then Burger got rid of Yashasvi Jaiswal with a short delivery. Gill and Kohli brought calm to the crease. Just when a partnership was building, Jansen came round the wicket to Gill and beat his bat to hit the stumps. Gill played down the wrong line and paid the price for it. He scored 26 runs from 37 balls. A few overs later, Jansen struck again to dismiss Iyer.
After an early reprieve, Kohli was looking to score quickly. Centurion of the first innings, Rahul got off the mark with a boundary. In the 26th over, Burger struck twice to dismiss Rahul and Ashwin. Kohli reached his half-century with a boundary. He took 61 deliveries to reach the milestone. Thakur failed to make the most of the dropped chance and was dismissed by Rabada. Kohli was looking to keep the strike and in the process, Bumrah was run out. Burger continued to strike. Siraj fell as the short ball brushed his thumb. Kohli tried to get rid of the trail but could not get to his century. Jansen wrapped up India's second innings as South Africa won by an innings and 32 runs. Kohli scored 76 runs from 82 balls featuring 12 fours and a six.
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