India claim victory in less than two days to tie series against Proteas

India won their first Test match at Newlands, ensuring a 1-1 tie in a series which lasted less than five days. 

Rohit Sharma’s men secured a seven-wicket win against the Proteas on Thursday in a match where batting was a lottery on the first day.

A frenzied 28 from 25 balls by opener Yashasvi Jaiswal ensured any tension there may have been in pursuit of a target of 79 was eliminated, with India reaching the winning score at the end of the 12th over. 

That ensured the match was the shortest Test in balls bowled, with only 642 delivered, eclipsing the previous record of 656 in the fifth Test between Australia and South Africa in Melbourne in 1932. 

Besides Aiden Markram’s exhilarating century on the second morning, the major talking point of this match will be the pitch. It continued to be too favourable to the bowlers even with the sun baking down again on Thursday. 

Before play started on the second day, Newlands’ new curator Braam Mong was seen in deep discussion with match referee Chris Broad. The International Cricket Council (ICC) will almost certainly sanction this surface, which though not dangerous in causing physical harm for batters was weighted too much in favour of the seam bowlers. 

Both captains and Broad will submit reports to be handed to ICC pitch consultant Andy Atkinson and a judgment is expected to follow from the governing body in the next few days. 

This series of just two matches lasted barely four-and-a-half days, an unsatisfying outcome for two top-tier teams. South Africa may be the hardest place in the world to bat, but Newlands, in particular, was almost unplayable at times. Proteas batting coach Ashwell Prince, who has played and coached at this ground for many years, said he’d seen things from the surface he’d never seen before. 

As for India, they will leave the tour content. The T20 series was tied, they won the ODIs 2-1 with a team devoid of its leading stars and then their bowlers, especially Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah, made excellent use of extremely helpful conditions to tie the Test series. 

Having bowled out the South Africans for 55 in the first session on Wednesday, they eked out a 98-run lead before suffering a record collapse, losing their last six wickets for the addition of no runs on the first afternoon. 

Markram’s innings showed that with a bit of application and an attacking mindset, scoring runs was possible and had South Africa been able to forge a few partnerships, who knows how difficult life would have been for the Indian batters on Thursday afternoon. 

David Bedingham and Kyle Verreynne would be kicking themselves for the loose strokes they played that led to their dismissals in the first hour of Thursday’s play. 

Markram was majestic, making 106, but with no-one else scoring more than 12, South Africa’s second innings total of 176 was insufficient. 

What would everyone give for a third and deciding Test? 

In its absence, attention in South Africa will turn to the SA20 that starts next Wednesday in Gqeberha. In two weeks' time, a Proteas “B” team heads to New Zealand for two Tests, that, on the back of this series and how short it was, will again increase the volume of the debate about the status of the Test format.

India host a five-match series against England, another sign of the grave imbalance in the international game.