India captain Rohit Sharma praised his South African counterpart Dean Elgar’s batting while adding that his side would look to win the second Test in Cape Town to ruin the veteran opener’s farewell Test. Notably, Elgar will captain South Africa in his final international match in the absence of Temba Bavuma, who suffered an injury during the first Test.
Dean Elgar has been a constant source of frustration for India in recent times. The last time India visited South Africa, Elgar set an excellent example, finishing with 235 runs, the second-highest total in the series, as the Proteas overcame a 1-0 deficit to win 2-1. Elgar most recently won Player of the Match in the opening Test after scoring an incredible 185 to deflate India. The visitors’ wait for a series win in South Africa was prolonged as they lost by an innings.
“He’s been their mainstay for a number of years now. Gets a lot of runs against us for sure but again a quality player. Somebody who puts a big price on his wicket and doesn’t throw it away just like that. [You have] got to get him out,” Rohit told the reporters in the pre-match presser.
Apart from Elgar, the Indians will be hoping to stop South African pacer Kagiso Rabada, who claimed 5 for 59 in 20 overs to help dismiss the visitors for 245, which was bolstered by a fighting 101 by KL Rahul. Nandre Burger, a debutant pacer, impressed everyone with a haul of 3 for 50.
“It will be important if we can get him early and try to see what the other batters do with him not being there. We know how important he is to them. He likes to score big runs and bat long as well. We have got our plans. Hope it works out for us, it clearly didn’t work out in the last game but hopefully, it will [in the next match]. Hopefully, we can make it [his last match] miserable [laughs],” Rohit added.
South Africa are off to a perfect start in the World Test Championship 2023-25, sitting atop the table with a 100% point percentage. Meanwhile, India, finalists in the previous two editions, are in a difficult position, attempting to regain lost ground after falling to sixth place following a loss and penalties incurred for a slow over-rate.
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