India levels series 1-1
PrashantNews
Former Indian skipper Mithali Raj summed up the thrilling story of the second test that India won by seven wickets against South Africa in Cape Town on Thursday. “This test match moved at a break-neck speed, all over within just 5 sessions! Every session threw a surprise of its own but Mohd Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah were spectacular with the ball while Mukesh Kumar gave valiant support. Congratulations on the series-leveling win!,” she wrote on X (twitter).
That was fantastic on the part of Raj to provide a gist of the shortest test match ever played in the history of cricket. The Cape Town test match was completed in just 642 balls which broke the previous record of the 656 ball match of 1932 in which Australia had defeated South Africa. In both the shortest test matches, the loser was South Africa.
If it was Mohd Siraj who had taken a career best haul of 6-15 in the first innings, it was Bumrah who took 6-61 to bowl out Proteas for 176 leaving a paltry target of 79 rums. But the South African opening batter A Markram delayed the Indian victory considerably by scoring a magnificent century. But it was also a fact that wicketkeeper K L Rahul dropped a crucial catch of Markram when he was on 73.
The Indian chase for the victory target never looked in doubt as Captain Rohit Sharma who remained 16 not out made the target easy with the support of Yashaswi Jaiswal (28) and Virat Kohli (12). Ends