Bumrah Starts a Riot, but Markram’s Hundred Counterattacks Give South Africa a Chance

South Africa started their innings after what can only be described as an unusual first day of the second Test between India and South Africa. This resulted in yet another thrilling day of Test match action.

On the first day of the second Test match at Newlands, Cape Town, the pacers produced an amazing performance, taking 23 wickets, of which 22 were claimed by the fast bowlers. It was a forgettable day for the hitters. It’s interesting to note that this is the joint-highest number of wickets lost on Proteas land and the second-highest amount on the opening day of a Test match.

South Africa resumed their second innings at 62/3 at the close of the first day, with openers Aiden Markram and David Bedingham at the bat hoping to build a strong performance to threaten the opposition. Unfortunately, however, that is not the case.

Jasprit Bumrah struck and took Bedingham out of the crease instantly, needing little more time than the first over of the day.

Bumrah’s mastery was far from finished, as he proceeded to terrorize and cause chaos in the middle-order of South Africa, dismissing both Kyle Verreynne and Marco Jansen in rapid succession, causing the wickets to fall for South Africa once again.

Bumrah continued to dominate, reaching his sixth wicket against SENA opposition and matching Zaheer Khan’s record in the process.

As the opener cut and slayed every delivery that came his way, Aiden Markram saw an opportunity to counterattack and he took it, keeping the runs for South Africa trickling in.

In this first over of the second innings, Markram achieved his century quite spectacularly, hitting Prasidh Krishna for twenty runs and going on to smash Bumrah for two more boundaries on route to a brilliant century laced with seventeen fours and two sixes.

When it seemed like Markram would continue his onslaught, Siraj broke through the clutch with a delivery of decent length, tempting him to swipe it high. The ball landed easily into the hands of captain Rohit Sharma, who went out for an incredible 106 runs off 103 balls.

After that, India had it all to themselves as they soon removed players like Rabada and Ngidi. Bumrah finished the session with stats of 6/61 in 13.5 overs, and South Africa was bowled out for a pitiful 176, giving India 79 runs to win the match.