Elgar’s ton puts South Africa in lead after Rahul’s century takes India to 245

The final session began with Elgar and Bedingham taking 41 runs in the first nine overs, with Bumrah, Siraj and Thakur proving to be ineffective in stopping the duo from taking boundaries

Centurion: In his final Test on his home ground, veteran opener Dean Elgar kickstarted his farewell series by slamming a century to single-handedly put South Africa into the lead on day two of the first Test against India at the SuperSport Park on Wednesday.

Ravichandran Ashwin twice, getting an edge running for four and then got his hundred with a fierce pull off Thakur going for a boundary. Elgar celebrated with a joyful jump, punching and roaring in delight, with the crowd quick to applaud a fine knock, also his first Test hundred at home ground. He and Bedingham took three more boundaries off Thakur to end second session, which yielded 145 runs, firmly in South Africa’s favour.

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The final session began with Elgar and Bedingham taking 41 runs in the first nine overs, with Bumrah, Siraj and Thakur proving to be ineffective in stopping the duo from taking boundaries. Bedingham, who looked solid on backfoot play, reached his maiden Test fifty in 80 balls, before being castled by Siraj and depart for 56. With some variable bounce on offer, Krishna made use of it to get his maiden Test wicket in the form of Kyle Verreynne. The right-handed batter tried to punch a rising short ball, but the ball took the glove edge behind to Rahul.

Elgar would be whacked on the glove off Krishna, following which a break in the play happened, giving time to umpires to assess the light situation at the stadium. With the light not being good enough to continue, the players walked off. 30 minutes before the stipulated stumps time, play was called off for the day, which well and truly belonged to South Africa and Elgar.

Brief Scores: India 245 in 67.4 overs (KL Rahul 101; Kagiso Rabada 5-44) trail

South Africa 256/5 in 66 overs (Dean Elgar 140 not out, David Bedingham 56; Jasprit Bumrah 2-48, Mohammed Siraj 2-61) by 11 runs.