Lightning strikes twice

CAPE TOWN, January 14

Keegan Petersen scored a superb 82 as South Africa completed a seven-wicket victory in the third Test and a 2-1 series win over world No. 1 India on an unforgiving Newlands pitch having chased down their challenging target of 212 today.

It is just the fourth time in 133 years that a team has scored more than 200 in Cape Town to win, and follows on from South Africa’s epic seven-wicket victory in Johannesburg in the second Test when they needed 240 in the fourth innings.

Petersen, who was the leading scorer in the series with 276 runs, was the anchor for the home side, but there were also important unbeaten contributions from Rassie van der Dussen (41) and Temba Bavuma (32) as they put on 57 for the fourth wicket.

The result means India are still in search of a first Test series victory in South Africa having had high hopes when they won the opening match.

South Africa, who were underdogs for the series despite home advantage with their inexperienced side, had started the day on 101/2 and had plenty of alarms on the difficult pitch against the high-quality Indian seamers, who might have had more reward with better luck.

Couldn’t be prouder of the group. After the first loss, had a lot of hope knowing we can still win this. Dean Elgar, SA Captain

I don’t know how I feel, it hasn’t sunk in yet. Happy, emotional but just grateful to have had the opportunity Keegan Petersen

India were left hugely frustrated by the technology used for dismissal referrals and might have talked themselves into some trouble with their deliberate on-field comments into the stump microphones.

Elgar believes the win is an important step forward for his side, who have lost a host of experienced players to retirement in recent years.

“I’m pretty elated. I couldn’t be prouder of the group of players,” he said. “We were thrown under the sword quite a few times in this series and the guys responded brilliantly. The way our bowling unit came in and operated through the last two games has been brilliant. To take 60 wickets in a Test series is a tough challenge. We have a young, talented group. The experience isn’t there, but we are gaining it and getting better every day,” he added.

The teams will now play three ODIs starting in Paarl on Wednesday. — Reuters

4 This is only the fourth time India have lost a series after winning the first Test. The previous three occassions were: against England at home in 1984/85, against South Africa away in 2006/07 and against England at home in 2012/13

4 This is the fourth time a fourth innings target of over 200 has been successfully chased in 133 years at Newlands

276 Runs scored by Keegan Petersen, making him the leading scorer in the series

Scoreboard

India 1st innings 223

South Africa 1st innings 210

India 2nd innings 198

South Africa 2nd innings

A Markram c Rahul b Shami 16

D Elgar c Pant b Bumrah 30

K Petersen b Thakur 82

R van der Dussen not out 41

T Bavuma not out 32

Extras: (lb 8, nb 3) 11

Total: (3 wickets, 63.3 overs) 212

FOW: 1-23, 2-101, 3-155

Bowling O M R W

Jasprit Bumrah 17 5 54 1

Mohammed Shami 15 3 41 1

Umesh Yadav 9 0 36 0

Shardul Thakur 11 3 22 1

Ravichandran Ashwin 11.3 1 51 0

Player of the Match and Series

Keegan Petersen