India pacer Mohammed Siraj has ruined the farewell Test match of Dean Elgar. When South Africa won the toss and opted to bat in sunny conditions at Newlands in Cape Town, one felt as if these were the best batting conditions of the series. But the duo of Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah didn't let South Africa off the hook at any stage in their opening burst.
Perhaps, Siraj found his line and length right from ball one and ran through the Proteas line-up nonchalantly with his nine-over spell with the new ball. He first sent back opener Aiden Markram who edged one to Yashasvi Jaiswal in the slips and then Elgar played one onto the stumps in his penultimate innings in Test cricket. Siraj then sent back Tony de Zorzi, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne and Marco Jansen in quick succession as all of them nicked the ball behind the wickets.
While there isn't much help from the surface but the red cherry just enough even as Siraj has to be credited for landing the ball in right areas as he has already picked up six wickets leaving South Africa in a proper mess. This is the third five-wicket haul for Siraj in his 23rd Test match and so far his figures read 6/15 which are also the best in the format.
Not only Siraj, even Bumrah and Mukesh Kumar bolwed well to keep up the pressure on South Africa in the first session. Perhaps, they are also in danger of getting bowled out for less than 100 runs in their first essay after opting to bat first.
Playing XIs
South Africa: Dean Elgar (c), Aiden Markram, Tony de Zorzi, Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne (wk), Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Nandre Burger, Lungi Ngidi
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Mukesh Kumar
