Centurion: India beat South Africa by 113 runs in the opening Test to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series here on Thursday.
Set a stiff target of 305, South Africa were bowled out for 191 just after lunch in their second innings on the fifth and final day of the series opener at the SuperSport Park.
The hosts were 182 for seven at lunch, trailing by 123 runs. South Africa had finished the fourth day at 94 for four with skipper Dean Elgar unbeaten on 52 after Indian batters caved in on a track with uneven bounce, getting all out for 174 in just 50.3 overs.
For India, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami finished with three wickets apiece while there were two apiece for Mohammed Siraj and Ravichandran Ashwin.
Kohli, India captain, said, ‘ Got off to the perfect start. Have to understand one day was washed out – shows how well we played. It’s always a difficult place to play against SA (Centurion). The discipline that the batters showed. Winning the toss, batting first overseas is a tough challenge. Credit to Mayank and KL the way they set it up. We knew we were in pole position with anything over 300-320. Knew the bowlers will do the job. Spoke about it in the change room – the fact he didn’t bowl much in the first innings, it allowed SA to get around 40 more runs (Bumrah). Just the way these guys bowl together has been a hallmark of our team getting a result in difficult situations. Absolutely world class talent (Shami). For me he’s in the best three seamers in the world at the moment. His strong wrist, his seam position and his ability to hit a length consistently. Got so much confidence out of Johannesburg last time. It’s a ground we love playing at.’
Elgar, SA captain, said, ‘Obviously not a nice thing knowing we lost a Test here. Did a few things wrong. Lot of positives coming out that we can use in the next two. Always the nature here. Always going to be tough because the wicket’s playing slower (first morning). Indian openers did the fundamentals right. We didn’t quite execute the lengths well. After some good chats our bowlers executed the lengths and restricted India to what we thought was a par score. New ball is something you have to get through playing here. Can’t emphasise enough on the hard work our bowlers put in to get 20 wickets. Our batters let us down. I’d say the batting was the difference between the two sides. We’ll have a little sit-down with myself and the management to strategise. Didn’t do a lot of wrong things. Not all doom and gloom for us. We thrive under the pressure which is a positive for us.’
