India's horror record continues in South Africa with innings defeat in Centurion
South Africa were at their ruthless best at Centurion, inflicting an innings and 32-run defeat on India inside three days to dash Rohit and Co’s hopes of conquering the ‘Final Frontier’
Rohit Sharma failed to lead from the front, getting dismissed for scores of 5 and 0
KL Rahul was among the few bright spots for the Indian team with a hard-fought 101 that batting legend Sunil Gavaskar described as one of the greatest Test knocks by an Indian
Besides Rahul’s ton and Virat Kohli’s 76 in the second innings, there were hardly any meaningful contributions from the Indians
Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4/69 but hardly got any support from the others as South Africa would go on to post 408
Shardul Thakur and debutant Prasidh Krishna were especially disappointing with the ball, conceding 101 and 93 runs respectively at more than four-an-over
For the Proteas, the highlight of the game was opener and stand-in captain Dean Elgar scoring a majestic 185 — his maiden century at his home ground
Before that, pace spearhead Kagiso Rabada had collected 5/59 in the first innings to take his international wicket tally past 500
Elgar is set to lead the Proteas in the second and final Test in Cape Town and will hope to sign off from the sport by leading his side to a 2-0 sweep
With their hopes of pulling off a first-ever Test series win on South African soil dashed, the best Rohit and Co can manage from here is a 1-1 draw, which wouldn’t too bad in the end and will end their tour on a high