The second test match between South Africa and India is being played at Newsland Cricket Ground, Cape Town and Dean Elgar is leading the South African team in the absence of Temba Bavuma as he is having fitness issues. This is Dean Elgar’s farewell test match and he will certainly like to end it in on a winning note.
Ahead of the second test match, Dean Elgar attended a press conference in which he told reporters that he plays only to win; he doesn’t care about the stats and the only thing that he cares about is victory. He goes on to say that he cares about the series win because it will be the greatest memory that a player can share with his team. He further said that he didn’t have the opportunity to play the World Cup but for him, test series is the World Cup as this is his arena where he wants to win.
Dean Elgar has played 14 test matches against India and till now, he has scored 996 runs (including 2 centuries) at an average of around 43.
Rohit Sharma, the Indian skipper was also full of praises for his South African counterpart during the press conference. Hitman said that Dean Elgar has been an important part of the Proteas team for many years now, he has got a lot of runs against India, he is a quality player who puts a big price on his wicket as he never throws it away but the opposition has to get him out early if they have to win the match.
Rohit Sharma also said that the Indian team will like to get Dean Elgar out early and will like to see how other batters will play when he is not there because he is very important for his team. Rohit said that Dean Elgar likes to play big innings but they are ready with their plans, hopefully their plans will work this time as they clearly didn’t work in the first test match. India lost the first test match by an innings and 32 runs and Dean Elgar was the Player of the Match as he scored 185 runs in the first innings.
If we talk about the second test match, it is currently being played and South Africa is batting in its second innings on the first day of the test match itself.
The toss was won by the hosts and they decided to bat first but India scripted history by wrapping up the Proteas for just 55 runs in their first innings. Mohammed Siraj was the pick of the bowlers as he took 6 wickets and gave away just 15 runs. The Indian squad was also not able to make much impact as the whole team could manage only 153 runs on the score board. At the end of the day 1, the Proteas are playing at the score of 62/3 and Dean Elgar (4 & 12) must be upset as he got out cheaply in both the innings.
Which team will win this test match according to you? Let us know your opinion.