India have beaten South Africa in the second Test at Newlands on Thursday. Picture: Grant Pitcher/Gallo Images
India beat South Africa by seven wickets inside two days in the second Test between the countries at Newlands in Cape Town on Thursday to draw the two-match series.
It was a first Test win by India at Newlands. South Africa won the first Test, starting on Boxing Day, by more than an innings inside three days at Centurion.
Set a modest 79 in the final innings to win the second Test, India raced to the target in 12 overs with Yashasvi Jaiswal (28 off 23 balls) the biggest contributor.
With just 642 balls bowled, the match was the shortest in Test cricket history, beating the previous match between Australia and South Africa in Melbourne in 1932 when 656 balls were bowled.
Earlier in the day, South Africa were bowled out for 176 in their second innings, with opening batter Aiden Markram scoring a sensational 106 off 103 balls. He struck 16 fours and two sixes.
The next best Proteas batter was captain Dean Elgar with 12. It was an 86th and final Test match to forget for the now retired 36-year-old Test batter.
The pick of the Indian bowlers was Jasprit Bumrah who returned figures of 6/61 in 13.5 overs to follow in the footsteps of team-mate Mohammed Siraj, who was chief destroyer in the first innings with his 6/15 in nine overs.
The match, played on a quick wicket of inconsistent bounce, didn’t last five sessions.
South Africa were bowled out for 55 in the first session on day one on Wednesday, with India dismissed for 153 on the same afternoon. They had looked set to post a big total before losing their last six wickets for no runs in 11 balls.
South Africa’s second innings started late on day one and they resumed on day two on Thursday on 62/3. And while the Indian bowlers continued to make light work of the Proteas batting lineup, Markram stood firm, hitting the ball to all parts of the ground, to bring up a seventh Test century before lunch.
India’s run chase started after the lunch interval and they reached their target of 79 within an hour of play in the afternoon session.
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