A young and inexperienced South Africa proved too good for the heavyweight India as they pipped the visitors by 7 wickets to win the series 2-1. The young Proteas side led by Dean Elgar was trailing 1-0 but they fought back from an unwanted situation to pull off something very special. The find of the series has been Keegan Petersen who has been instrumental for the hosts in the last two test matches to seal the deal.
After the series getting poised at 1 win each to team, the focus shifted to the coastal town of Cape Town for the third test which is eventually a fortress for the African team. After winning the toss, Virat Kohli chose to bat first and the experienced Indian batting line up failed to fire as they were bundled out for 223 runs with Virat Kohli(79) being the highest scorer for the visitors and a resurgent Kagiso Rabada chipping in with 4 wickets to draw curtains on India’s middle and top order.
South Africa could not capitalize and were bundled out on 210 runs with Keegan Petersen(72) being the top scorer and Jasprit Bumrah completed a fifer for India. The visitors had a task to score runs which were beyond the reach of the Proteas team but except Rishabh Pant(100*) and Virat Kohli(29) none of the Indian batters get going and as a result India set a target of 212 runs for the Proteas.
The hosts lost Markram(16) early but with lots of controversies and the unfortunate stump mic event, skipper Elgar and Petersen stitched a 76 runs stand for the 2nd wicket to put India on backfoot. Bumrah picked Elgar in the last over of 3rd day’s play to give some sort of relief to the Indian team.
Indian bowlers were charged up in the starting session of 4th day’s play but Petersen and Rassie van der Dussen ensured that they play on the first spell to make it easy for the Proteas. India could just manage the wicket of Petersen as the Dean Elgar led side completed a 7 wickets victory and ensured that India could not complete a test series win in the rainbow country.
Keegan Peterson (KP). Excellent initials (@KP24). A great world player in the making. My childhood hero Gundappa Vishwanath comes to mind #SAvIND pic.twitter.com/6T9SuzN6St
— Ravi Shastri (@RaviShastriOfc) January 14, 2022
A golden opportunity to win a Test series in South Africa is now lost. Some of the decisions will hurt Team India forever. #SAvIND #INDvSA #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/ZmmGsS9yhs
— parthiv patel (@parthiv9) January 14, 2022
Amazing fight boys. Great Test series. Well done to both teams for pulling us all in?
— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) January 14, 2022
I thought this was our best chance to create a history! Considering our team and theirs. Well played South Africa. Marco Janson and Keegan Peterson are future South African stars.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) January 14, 2022
Result didn’t go our way but that doesn’t change the fact that this was a gripping series. Every session was a contest. Congratulations to @OfficialCSA. You’ve got great foundation to build on. Petersen is ??And Rabada-Nortje-Ngidi-Jansen attack is going to be ? #SAvIND
— Wasim Jaffer (@WasimJaffer14) January 14, 2022
Final frontier remains unconquered. 2018 was a contest between two evenly matched sides and you could take a lot of heart from the performances even in a series defeat. This tour though…winning the first test…superior side…and then losing 1-2. This will hurt. Should hurt.
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) January 14, 2022
This series loss should be an eye Opener for Rahul Dravid, and the team management, it’s time to move on from the liabilities in this team, Pujara, Rahane u have done great things for this team, but it’s over for u both now sadly, we thank u for ur contribution to this team.
— ArnavTalksCricket ? (@TweetsByArnav) January 14, 2022
‘‘Quiet man Rahul Dravid. Won’t say much. No boasting nothing. Will accept defeat and move on. He knows where it needs fixing better than anyone. Can expect him to do all that there is within a reach of a head coach in Indian cricket. And that is limited but he can manage’’ pic.twitter.com/PGLLcDNm28
— z N e D (@MadMart05) January 14, 2022
So near yet so far…once again. No Indian bowlers among the top 3 in the series and only 1 Indian batsman in top 4 of the series says it all… #INDvSA #INDvsSAF #SAvIndia #SAvIND #CricketTwitter pic.twitter.com/dllfwtYsut
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) January 14, 2022
Outstanding by @OfficialCSA they were 1 down in the series. This was India’s best chance to win in South Africa as SA didn’t have that kind of team but they showed when u stuck together as a teams than u can achieve big things without any big names .. congratulations #INDvSA
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) January 14, 2022
This result is as disappointing for Indian cricket as the 4-1 defeat in England in 2018. Outbatted by a vastly less experienced team but in all fairness Rabada, Ngidi, Jansen and Olivier outbowled India too.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) January 14, 2022
