South Africa vs India, 1st Test Day 3 Stats Review: Dean Elgar’s second-highest Test score, South Africa’s dominant record in Centurion, and other stats

All-rounder Marco Jansen struck an unbeaten 84 and then picked up figures of 3/36 in the third innings of the match as South Africa defeated India by an innings and 32 runs to clinch the opening Test at SuperSport Park in Centurion. With this victory, the Proteas have now taken a 1-0 lead in the two-match series with the second encounter set to be played on January 03, at Newlands in Cape Town.

Speaking about how Day 3 panned out, Dean Elgar went on to register his second-highest Test score of 185. Shardul Thakur finally got rid of him after the former had played 287 deliveries. Jansen scripted his highest score of 84 not out which included 11 fours and a maximum as he guided his side to a big total of 408. Speedster Jasprit Bumrah was the pick of the Indian bowlers for his spell of 4/69 in 26.4 overs.

The visitors came out to bat trailing by 163 runs in their second innings. Skipper Rohit Sharma was dismissed by pacer Kagiso Rabada for a duck. The seam bowler got rid of the India captain for the second time in the match. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored just five while Shubman Gill amassed 26. Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul got out for just six and four runs respectively as the tourists lost wickets at regular intervals. 

Virat Kohli amassed 76 off 82 but he kept losing partners at the other end. The star batter was too finally dismissed at the end by Jansen as the Proteas wrapped things up inside three days. Nandre Burger and Rabada picked up four and two wickets respectively as India got bowled out cheaply for just 131. For his solid knock of 185, Elgar grabbed the Player of the Match award.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from Day 3 of the 1^st Test between South Africa and India:

185 – Dean Elgar registered his second-best score of 185 in Test cricket. His highest score of 199 came against Bangladesh in the year 2017.

84* - Marco Jansen recorded his highest Test score of 84*. Previously, his best of 59 came against Australia in the year 2022.

7 – Kagiso Rabada has now dismissed Rohit Sharma for the seventh time in Test, the second-joint most he has got rid of any player with Kraigg Brathwaite. The seam bowler has dismissed Stuart Broad ten times in the longest format of the game.

23 – South Africa scripted their 23^rd Test victory out of the 29 matches played at SuperSport Park in Centurion. They have lost only three and drew as many at the venue.

2048 - Virat Kohli completed the landmark of 2000 runs across formats in 2023.

61 – Kohli smashed his quickest half-century in 61 deliveries in an away Test. His previous fastest came in 63 balls against Sri Lanka in Colombo (PSS) in 2015.

11 – South African left-arm pacers picked up 11 wickets which is the joint-most by them in a Test. The previous instance took 100 years ago against England in Cape Town in 1923.

51 – Rabada reached the milestone of 50 wickets against India in Test format.

7 – Kohli has now smashed 2000 international runs in a calendar year for the record seventh time. He surpassed Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of six.

28 – Elgar struck 28 fours which are the most by him in a Test innings. Previously, he hit 24 against New Zealand in Dunedin in 2017.

13 – South Africa has won 13 out of the 24 Test matches played against India in South Africa. India won only four while the remaining seven ended up in a draw.

2 – Elgar has now struck the second-joint most 150+ scores (two) with Hashim Amla for South Africa against India in the Whites. Jacques Kallis tops the chart with three such scores.