
South Africa’s Dean Elgar was given a standing ovation at the Super Sport Park in Centurion on Thursday (Dec 28) after getting out in the first innings of the Boxing Day Test. Elgar, having scored a hundred on Wednesday continued with his impressive run before he was dismissed for 185. Post his knock, Elgar departed with a heroes salute from the local fans as the crowd gave him a standing ovation despite missing out on the double hundred. The left-hand batter before the start of the series had announced his retirement from international duty after the conclusion of the second Test in Cape Town.
In the first session, on the fifth ball of the 95th over Elgar was scalped by Shardul Thakur which brought his resolute innings to an end. The Proteas opener helped his side to reach 400 in their first innings as they established their iron grip on the contest. Elgar’s innings consisted of 28 fours and was scoring at a strike rate of 65. His partnership with Marco Jansen was the highlight reel that helped the hosts take a vital lead in the first innings.
At the time of writing, South Africa were 403/8 and were leading by 158 runs in the first innings as they now sit in the driving seat. Interestingly, if South Africa win this contest, India’s aspiration of winning a series on South African soil will be put to the sword having never succeeded in the Rainbow Nation.
India still have a tough task in hand to overcome the current deposit in the second innings with a draw being the most favourable result for Rohit Sharma’s men.
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Earlier in the first session of Day 2, KL Rahul brought his best on Day 2 of the Centurion Test as he amassed his eighth ton in the format to help India reach 245. Rahul added 31 runs to his overnight total of 70 runs to bring his ton against South Africa which helped India rescue after a sloppy start in the match on Boxing Day. The ton is also his second at the venue, having also scored a hundred in the 2021-22 tour of South Africa. He was soon dismissed after getting to the triple-figure as South Africa were called into bat in the first session of Day 2.