Cape Town, Jan 4: Fast-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah bagged a six-wicket haul and set the base for India beating South Africa by seven wickets inside two days at Newlands Cricket Ground to end the series 1-1.
South Africa began Day Two still trailing India by 36 runs, and they managed to take the lead, thanks to Aiden Markram’s stunning 106 off 103 balls coming under pressure, especially when none of his teammates reached 20. But Bumrah continued to strike and picked 6-61 to bowl out South Africa for 176 at the stroke of lunch.
Needing 79 to win the match, India took only 12 overs to chase the target, with Yashasvi Jaiswal leading the charge by striking six boundaries in his aggressive 23-ball 28.
Though India lost him, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli, captain Rohit Sharma and Shreyas Iyer, who was troubled by short balls, hung around to hit boundaries and make India the first Asian team to win a Test match in Cape Town.
Apart from leveling the series, India have secured 12 important World Test Championship points after losing the first Test at Centurion in three days. With the match decided in four and a half sessions, at 624 balls (107 overs), the Cape Town Test match between South Africa and India is now the shortest-ever completed game in the history of the longest format of the game.
Brief Scores: South Africa 55 and 176 in 36.5 overs (Aiden Markram 106; Jasprit Bumrah 6-61) lost to India 153 and 80/3 in 12 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 28; Marco Jansen 1-15) by seven wickets.
(IANS)
