South Africa won the third Test by seven wickets and clinched the series 2-1.
During the fourth innings chase of 212, Elgar was caught plumb by off-spinner R Ashwin in front of the stumps and umpire Marais Erasmus raised his finger instantly. However, the decision was overturned with the ball tracker suggesting that the ball would have gone over the stumps even though it hit the Proteas captain just below the knee roll.
The decision led to a drama and constant chatter by skipper Virat Kohli, his deputy KL Rahul and Ashwin, who alleged via stump mic that the broadcaster Supersport TV tampered with DRS.
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Amid the controversy, Team India seemed to have lost the focus and ended up conceding 40 runs in the next eight overs.
"That obviously gave us a little bit of a window period, especially yesterday (Thursday) for us to score a little bit freer and obviously, chip away at the deficit that we needed or the target that we needed," Elgar said after their series-clinching win in Cape Town.
"It worked out well in our hands, it played nicely into our hands. For a period of time, they actually forgot about the game and they were challenging a bit more of the emotional side of what Test cricket has to offer."
Commenting on the controversy, Elgar said: "Loved it. It was obviously maybe a team that was under a little bit of pressure and things weren't going the way which they obviously were quite used to of late.
"Yeah we're extremely happy. We still had to execute our skills with the bat (on day three and four) knowing that the wicket was playing a bit in the bowlers' favour and we needed to be extra disciplined out there and execute our basics."
Having lost the opening game in Centurion by 113 runs, the hosts were down and out but Dean Elgar led the team from the front in Johannesburg to turn things around.
"Losing the first game of a home Test series is never ideal. I think it's a South African trait that you always have to start slow and we almost have to be 0-1 down to actually wake up and realise that you know we were up against it and our backs against the wall and the guys responded beautifully to that," the skipper said.
Asked about the change room conversations, Elgar said: "I think that ties into the conversations I had with the team prior to the second game. Guys taking responsibility and valuing their wicket a lot more. A few soft dismissals and lapses of concentration can hinder your series and ultimately that's what got us the loss in the first game."
Elgar was pleased to see the way his troops responded after the series opener.
"They responded to fulfil those roles, especially from a batting point of view. We needed guys to stand up from a character point of view, make a bit more of a conscious effort and be a lot more aware of the position that they have within the side, purely to bring the best out of the player.
"Ultimately bringing the best out of the player will obviously influence the environment. So yeah, I'm glad and very, very relieved and very, very thankful of the guys for responding the way they did.
"It's a proper squad effort, even the guys who didn't play stood up in the right occasions for us."
(With PTI inputs)