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South Africa captain Dean Elgar feels that the historic seven-wicket victory over India in Johannesburg will give Proteas a huge confidence going forward in the series decider Third Test in Cape Town.
Leading from the front, Elgar produced an match-winning knock of 96 in the second Test at Wanderers on Thursday (January 6). He neutralised the highly touted Indian bowling attack and stood his ground on a difficult pitch to overhaul a target of 240 runs.
"The basics of batting, bowling and batting don't go away, we missed that in the first game. Saying that it wasn't easy. Tough conditions we had to face as a batting unit. As a bowling unit, the Indians were on top at times. Massive respect to our bowling unit, they showed a lot of character. Always a privilege to represent your country," Elgar told in the post-match presentation ceremony.
"I would like to think the knocks I take make me extra motivated to perform. Some would call it stupid and some would call it brave. The bigger picture is for us to win. We struggled to get a stable batting line-up and we had to be very patient. We've entrusted those positions to guys we feel can perform those roles and it's great to see them pull it off. We now go to Cape Town with plenty of confidence," Elgar added.
The other crucial contributions in batting came from Aiden Markram (31), Rassie van der Dussen (40), Keegan Peterson (28) and Temba Bavuma (23 not out off 45) while in bowling Kagiso Rabada (3/77) breathed fire with his top notch show while and Lungi Ngidi (3/43), Marco Jansen (3/67) and Duanne Olivier (11-1-43-1) stood tall to wrap the Indian innings to 266 on Day 3.
"(Rabada) With KG there was something that happened behind the scenes but we're not going to get into that. Sometimes KG needs a rocket. You could then almost sense the intensity and focus, he was in the zone. The moment he has that attitude, he wants to bowl and wants to contribute, you have to use it as a captain. It was awesome to see him fire.
"Team effort to get 20 wickets. I played a domestic game in Cape Town, not going to give away any info. 1-1, South Africa vs India, I don't think you could have written a better script," Elgar further added.
It was the first time South Africa had beaten India at the Wanderers and now they have levelled the series 1-1 and will look to shatter India's ambition of winning a Test series in the Rainbow Nation.
