South Africa 256 for 5 (Elgar 140*, Bedingham 56, Bumrah 2-48) lead India 245 (Rahul 101, Rabada 5-59) by 11 runs
India were dismal, particularly just after lunch when they began proceedings with a debutant and their third-choice fast bowler. Those eight overs produced almost as many runs (42) as the 16 that preceded them (49) and by the time Rohit Sharma realised his mistake, it was too late.
Elgar was beyond set.
But Elgar didn’t. Because he doesn’t push at the ball. He fared no better than his partner, often being squared up, occasionally taking blows on the body. But the thing he did so well was not to follow the seam movement that was on offer. He had a plan and he was content to look ugly for it because who cares when it also gives him 140 runs off 211 balls in his final Test series.
South Africa found 145 runs after lunch. That’s more than anything they’ve ever scored in a single session of Test cricket since the start of 2018. They preyed on India’s back-up bowlers. Prasidh and Shardul Thakur were left nursing a combined economy rate of 5.2 in the afternoon as a total that was 49 for 1 turned into 194 for 3 in just 33 overs.
Bumrah removed Tony de Zorzi to end a 93-run second-wicket partnership and nine balls later, he topped it with Keegan Petersen’s wicket. India struck twice again late in the day, which might in a way sting them really, because it was proof of how hard it was to build a partnership in Centurion. They let South Africa off the hook too often and too easily which is why they are now officially playing catch-up, trailing by 11 runs when the umpires took everyone off for bad light.
