IND v SA 2019: Faf du Plessis says Rohit-Pujara in second innings took the game away from them

Dean Elgar and Quinton de Kock made centuries in first innings.

Quinton de Kock and Dean Elgar hit sound centuries in 1st innings | AFPSouth Africa had come into this 3-match Test series with much hope but conceded a 1-0 lead to the Indian team after a 203-run loss in the first match at Vizag.

India won the toss and chose to bat and thanks to 215 from Mayank Agarwal and 176 from Rohit Sharma, in his debut as an opener, the home side posted 502/7d. South Africa replied brilliantly with 431 with Faf du Plessis making 160 and Quinton de Kock making 111.

Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis was a disappointed man at the post-match presentation and said, “Great start to the game with the bat. Obviously, India batted well, two great knocks by Mayank and Rohit. We fought well in our first innings with the bat... To get that sort of a total in the second innings of a game in India is tough. Their second innings was tough for us, Rohit and Pujara took the game away from us.”

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They might have hoped to stop India in the second innings to a low score, but Rohit Sharma slammed 127 runs and took the game away from them. Set 395 to win, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammad Shami reduced them to 70/8 at one point of time and they saved a bit of face only due to Dane Piedt’s 56 and Muthusamy’s 49* and their 91-run partnership but were bundled out for 191 only.

Day 5 if it starts misbehaving like that it's fine.. That's part of Test cricket. If you are always through a game like that you can think of the what-ifs. The seamers were mostly doing a holding job in this game up until today. Shami bowled beautifully today. We got to improve on our spinners taking 4-5 wickets in the second innings. On a Day 5 pitch things happen quicker (wickets falling),” he further added.

The next Test started begins on October 10 in Pune.

(Cricbuzz.com inputs)

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 06 Oct, 2019

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