CAPE TOWN (TIP)- India chased down a modest victory target of 79 to claim a seven-wicket win over hosts South Africa in the second Test at Newlands on January 4 and share the two-match series 1-1 after an extraordinary game finished inside five sessions.
India ended their second innings on 80/3 as they launched an assault to try and negate a difficult wicket that was still helping the bowlers.
Rohit Sharma finished not out on 16 and Shreyas Iyer on 4, with Yashasvi Jaiswal (28), Shubman Gill (10) and Virat Kohli (12) being the wickets to fall.
There will be plenty of scrutiny of the Newlands pitch with the match completed in 642 balls, the shortest ever Test in which there has been a winner, beating Australia’s 656-ball victory over South Africa in 1932.
“Obviously it’s a great feat, but having said that we had to learn from whatever mistakes we made (in the first test),” India captain Rohit Sharma said. “The bowlers still have to put the ball in the right areas and the boys got rewarded for it. When you come to this part of the world, it’s always difficult but we take pride in our performance outside of India.”
South Africa, who won the toss and elected to bat, will look back desperately on a poor first innings in which they were bowled out for 55 on a record-breaking opening day.
They gave themselves a fighting chance by dismissing India for 153 when the visitors lost six wickets for the addition of no runs, the first time that has happened in 147 years of Tests.
But India seamer Jasprit Bumrah took 6/61 as the tourists bowled South Africa out in their second innings for 176 on the stroke of lunch on the second day to set up the win.
Bumrah bowled a superb probing line but also profited from poor shot selection from the home batters, who seemed in a hurry to score runs on the tricky wicket.
South Africa opener Aiden Markram scored a quickfire 106 as he defied the conditions but lost partners at regular intervals, which forced him to try his hand.
Markram raced to his century in 99 balls but played one big shot too many as he skied a Mohammed Siraj delivery to Rohit Sharma at mid-off to end an innings of 17 fours and two sixes. “A tough one for us, we were positive coming into the game, but the first innings with the bat … India bowled well and used the conditions to a tee,” retiring South Africa captain Dean Elgar said. “It (the wicket) was a bit of a ripper, to the naked eye it looked a nice one, but it played different to what everyone thought it would play. I still don’t regret my decision to bat first but they outskilled us in the first session.” Source: Reuters
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India win shortest Test in cricket history
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Women’s T20 World Cup: Deepti, Richa shine as India beat West Indies by 6 wickets
Cape Town (TIP)- Deepti Sharma shone with the ball before Richa Ghosh led India to a six-wicket win over West Indies in their Women’s T20 World Cup Group 2 match here on Wednesday, February 15.
Deepti spun a web around the West Indies batters to restrict them to 118 for six after being asked to bowl.
The seasoned off-spinner (3/15) picked three wickets to become the first Indian to get to 100 women’s T20I wickets. Ghosh (44 not out) and captain Harmanpreet Kaur (33) then put up a vital 72-run stand to take India to their second victory of the tournament with 11 balls to spare.
Needing less than run a ball, India were off to an electric start with openers Shafali Verma (28) and Smriti Madhana (10) taking the team total to 31 in four overs on the back of six fours.
But India lost the momentum as slow bowling did the trick for West Indies.
Mandhana missed off-spinner Karishma Ramharack’s (2/14) ball completely, resulting in an easy stumping for wicketkeeper Rasha Williams.
Last game match-winner Jemimah Rodrigues (1) became Hayley Matthews (1/12) first and only victim of the day as the skipper took a stellar catch of her own bowling.
After two low-scoring overs, Shafali tried to up the ante only to be caught at long leg and West Indies picked three wickets in quick succession.
Harmanpreet took her time to settle down before hitting back-to-back fours off Afy Fletcher (0/24) in the ninth over. The India skipper’s knock came off 42 balls with the help of three boundaries.
Ghosh did what she does best—finish the game.
The youngster hit five fours, including one to finish off the match in her unbeaten 32-ball innings. She took India to 119 for 4 in 18.1 overs. Earlier, Pooja Vastrakar (1/21), opening with the new ball, gave India the early breakthrough, getting rid of the dangerous Hayley Matthew (2), striking on her very first ball.
The West Indies skipper was done in by the extra bounce as Richa Ghosh completed a regulation catch.
Pooja continued to put pressure on the West Indies, bowling a wicket maiden. Shemaine Campbelle (30) hit West Indies’ first boundary in the third over, slapping a Renuka Singh (1/22) delivery past square leg.
The introduction of spin led to West Indies collecting 12 runs, including two fours from Rajeshwari Gayakwad’s over.
West Indies were 53 for 1 at the halfway mark. Campbelle and Stefanie Taylor (42) steadied the West Indies innings as they slowly but steadily stitched a 73-run partnership. The two shared nine boundaries between them.
However, twin strikes from the ever-reliable Deepti led to a mini batting collapse. The off-spinner first punished Campbelle for going for a reverse sweep with Smriti Mandhana completing a lovely catch at short third. Source: PTI