Few eyebrows will be raised as the second test between India and South Africa was cut short to just 642 balls where the visitors pipped the home team by 7 wickets to become the first Asian team to thump the Proteas at Cape Town. Its worth mentioning that the Cape Town test is now the shortest test match in terms of the balls bowled which fell short of 656 ball mark set by South Africa and Australia way back in 1932 at Melbourne.
Smallest match in the history of test cricket, and then people complain of shorter test match in spin conditions. pic.twitter.com/BTfodUqmtZ
— Heimyname’s💝Rishabh (@Rishabhprakash4) January 4, 2024
After winning the toss, South Africa chose to bat first which was proved wrong by a determined Mohammed Siraj who returned with a figure of 6/15 to topple the South African top order well supported by Jasprit Bumrah and Mukesh Kumar, who picked 2 wickets each to bundle out Proteas on 55 runs.
India was in a strong position at 154/4 at one stage in the first innings but cricket is a funny game and it was rightly proved as the men in blue failed to add a single run on board and their six wickets fell like a pack of cards to give some hope to the Proteas.
South African batsmen were again struggling to fire but a determined Aiden Markram scored a brilliant hundred to not only avoid an innings defeat but also set a target of 79 runs to chase and give a ray of hope to their bowlers to eke out a win. However, the opening partnership of Yashasvi Jaiswal and skipper Rohit Sharma set the foundation for India as they added 44 runs for the first wicket. Proteas bowlers managed to pick three wickets but it was not enough to bag a famous victory as India leveled the Freedom series 1-1.
