India capitulate to hand SA emphatic innings win in Boxing Day Test

The end, when it came, came quickly.

India folded like the proverbial deck of cards.

The "final frontier", as many in India have described South Africa, remains unconquered. 

To the list of great captains who have led India in Test series’ in this country and lost or drew, can now be added the name of Rohit Sharma - who personally had dreadful match scoring five and naught. 

This first Test eventually turned into a rout, with the Proteas registering an innings and 32-run victory, a first win by an innings since beating England at Lord’s in 2022 and the first against India, since Jacques Kallis’s maiden double ton inspired an innings and 25-run win in 2010. 

It was an almost embarrassing capitulation.

India were 52/2 in the 19th over, still trailing SA by 111 runs, but still in a position from which they could have expected to set South Africa a tricky fourth innings run chase.

The pitch was still providing plenty of assistance to the seamers, as Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj had shown with a 70-over old ball in the morning. 

The Proteas through Dean Elgar and Marco Jansen, who shared a 111-run sixth wicket partnership had also illustrated how with guts and calculated batting, locating the boundary remained possible. 

They had stretched the Proteas lead to 163, with Jansen’s career-best 84 not out, featuring plenty of excellent drives through the covers. 

Having dismissed Rohit Sharma - with a peach from Rabada - and Yashasvi Jaiswal before tea, South Africa started to sniff victory.

But with Shreyas Iyer and Virat Kohli starting to put together a solid partnership India were looking for a foothold. 

Then Marco Jansen knocked over Iyer with a yorker and the pace of the afternoon’s play suddenly accelerated.

Nandre Burger returned to pick up two wickets off consecutive deliveries, and from 52/2 in the 19th over, India were shot out for 131 in the 35th, a collapse of 79/8 in 16 overs. 

Only Kohli showed the necessary skill to get on top of the SA bowlers, making 76 off 82 balls, but his composure was also absent at times, as shown in his role in the crazy run out of Jasprit Bumrah. 

There will be plenty of questions for the Indians to answer.

This series, diabolically only lasting two matches, is one they now cannot win.

SA remains the only country in which India has yet to win a Test series. 

For South Africa this win will provide a much needed boost in morale.

For Dean Elgar it was a personal triumph.

Having announced his retirement from Test cricket - a decision partly down to the lack of Test match play for the Proteas in the next few years - he produced one of his best performances in making 185 and anchored the SA first innings in which they scored 408 on a difficult pitch, with overhead conditions also favouring the bowlers. 

He ended up as captain too with Temba Bavuma not able to take the field because of a hamstring strain he picked up while fielding on the first day.

The team’s management, following numerous inquiries over the last few days, finally provided an update on Thursday afternoon, that stated Bavuma was still undergoing “continuous medical assessments.” 

Although there’d been speculation about him possibly batting, that was deemed too risky.

Fortunately India’s fragility and the brilliance of SA’s bowlers meant a fourth innings run chase was eliminated. 

Rabada finished with 2/32, while debutant Nandre Burger claimed 4/33 and Jansen, despite some struggles with control, took 3/36. 

There will be concerns about the fielding, with South Africa dropping five catches in the matches, three in India’s second innings.

But that is a problem that can be addressed from a position of triumph.