South Africa vs India 2018, 2nd Test: Who Said What

South Africa have annihilated India by 135 runs in the second Test of the three-match series at Supersport Park in Centurion. They have also won the series and have eventually completed the revenge of their 2015 tour when India had blanked them by 3-0 in the four-match rubber. The visitors though came with a lot of expectations and have been literally blown away by a well-equipped home side. However, the game totally belonged to the debutant Lungi Ngidi who scalped a six-wicket haul in the second innings.

After winning the toss, South Africa posted 335 runs in the first innings even after being comfortably placed at 246/3 on the first day. The bowlers of India bowled extremely well to stage the Indian comeback but the batsmen disappointed once again as only Virat Kohli stood tall with the magnificent knock of 153 runs. India conceded the lead of 28 runs in the first innings.

South Africa then posted 258 runs in the second innings on the back of the half-centuries of Dean Elgar and AB de Villiers. The Indians were set a tough target of 287 in the final innings which looked a realistic chance for the visitors to level the series. But once again the four-pronged pace attack of South Africa caught them hopping as they bundled them out for 151 runs thereby sealing the series in the first session of the final day itself.

The player of the match Lungi Ngidi was delighted over his match-winning performance. He thanked his teammates and the home crowd for supporting him throughout the Test match.

Ngidi said:

The moment hasn’t really sunk in. I am very chuffed with my performance and I’m very happy at the moment. Been a quick turnaround for me. I was in good nick in franchise cricket. I came out here to try pretty much what I could do. The support was great at my home ground. It’s a great moment.

I tried to keep it simple: hang it outside off. There was a bit of movement off the deck and one nipped in and got the wicket. It wasn’t the fastest Centurion pitch. Adapting to conditions was important. We had to deal with the conditions we were given. We pretty much put them under pressure, tried to keep them quiet and that worked.

Faf du Plessis admitted that they had to work hard to bring down the curtains on the World number 1 Test side. Though he was happy that his team had beaten them in the series and ultimately took healed the scars of 2015 tour.

It took a lot of hard work over the last five days. We were on top pretty much most of the times. One of the harder Tests, given batting and bowling was tough. We were amazing in the field. After Day 1, we were very disappointed. In that last 45 minutes of Day 1, we gave India a sniff and the chat after that was that we are gonna need a bit of character over the next four days. We were short in the first innings.

We needed to get 400, especially from the position we were in, but for me the vital time was the second innings. We kept pushing the scoring and we knew that anything over 250 would be challenging. So the guys were grinding hard to get over 250. Special performance by Ngidi. He’s a great guy and we welcome him into the team.

Amazing future that lad has. I look at the person’s personality the first thing and he’s a wonderful human being. I see him carrying this national attack for a few years. Morne’s catch was better than AB’s (chuckles).

Morne is going to tell us a lot about that catch over the next few days. You can tell from his celebrations. Long strides like that across the field is a beautiful sight.

The not-so-happy Indian team captain Virat Kohli accepted they were the second best team in the contest. He believed that South Africa deserved full credit to win the series and they were outplayed in all departments in the first two Tests.

Yeah (the wicket gave us our best chance). We thought the wicket was really flat. Quite surprising. I told the guys the wicket looks different to what it looked before toss. I thought it was our chance to put some runs on the board. Especially after SA lost wickets in the first innings, we should have capitalized.

We failed to get a good partnership and take the lead. We have let ourselves down from the first game into the second. The bowlers have done the job but the batsmen have let the team down again and that’s why we stand here. I want to leave everything on the field, for my country, for my team.

That’s the way I play. 150(sic) means nothing right now that we have lost the series. If we had won, even a 50 or a 30 would have mattered more to me. Having not won the game, personal milestones don’t matter to me. As a team, you want to win collectively. We tried but we weren’t good enough.

South Africa were better than us, especially in the fielding department, and that’s why they are the winners. And they deserve to be.