The South Africans were smarting after they lost to India 0-3 during their last tour of the sub-continent. Virat Kohli and his boys knew that the going would be tough, as The South Africans would prepare seaming pitches to give an edge to their pace bowlers. Despite a rain drought, the groundsman could leave a lot of grass on the wicket at Newlands to help the South African pace bowlers. It was, however, not a one-way advantage as the Indian seam bowlers led by Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, and Bhuvnesh Kumar also used the conditions to their advantage.
They bowled out south South Africa for 130 in the second innings and set the stage for an Indian victory.
As reported by cricshub.com India needed just 208 to win. It was a gettable total and under normal conditions, it should have been a cakewalk. The batting however floundered and the biggest disappointment was Virat Kohli who made just 28. He had failed in the first innings as well and now there must be a question mark about his capability as the best batsman in the world.
Indian batting collapse
Along with Kohli, men who have held the Indian batting together like Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma also failed. It was rank bad batting and the poor show negated the splendid effort by the Indian seam bowlers.
To the credit of the South Africans, their pacemen led by Vernon Philander bowled extremely well. They used the conditions to their advantage and exploited the weakness of the Indian batsmen. Even with paceman Steyn injured the South African pace battery fired on all cylinders to bowl India out for 135 and a 72 Run defeat.
India throw away a chance
The Indian had their best chance to record a victory at Cape Town.
Things were looking up after youngster Hardik Pandya showed the way in the first innings with a magnificent 91. This was after the top batsmen had failed. When the Indian seam bowlers bowled out South Africa for 130, an Indian victory looked likely. The old saying there is many a slip between the cup and the lip holds true, as India messed up their second innings with many batsmen not applying themselves.
Philander was good but with Steyn out of action, the South African attack was depleted. To lose by 72 runs is not something the Indian team and Kohli can be proud of. This has been reported in detail by NDTV, sports.
Future
The first test is over and India have an uphill task in the remaining two test matches. In particular, Kohli will have to perform. The morale of the South African team is high and they will go into the second test with confidence. India would do well to sideline Shikhar Dhawan and Murli Vijay, openers who looked completely out of depth.
