South African captain Dean Elgar has opened up about his match-winning knock against India after he led the hosts to a famous seven-wicket win in the second Test in Johannesburg to level the ongoing three-match Test series 1-1 on Thursday (January 6).
34-year-old Elgar, who scored just 28 runs in the first innings, played an unbeaten knock of 96 off 188 balls taking five hours and nine minutes to help South Africa chase down 240 on day four to level the three-match Test series against Team India at the Wanderers Johannesburg on Thursday.
Elgar said in the post-match media interaction: “I said to myself I'm going to be there till the end as a senior batter, someone who's been around for a long time. I needed to take responsibility. It's not always going to work out but today it worked out.”
The left-hander took a lot of body blows including one beamer from Jasprit Bumrah on his helmet grille on Wednesday but he remained calm and composed and took the side to a 7-wicket win over India.
He continued, “It's a highly stressful and intense series against the Indians. Some may call it stupid, some may be brave. I would like to see the latter. I'd like to see it as another influencing factor in our team. If I'm willing to put my body on the line, so should everyone else and it's not in the mind. Playing for your country, you're expected to do this, irrespective of how you are feeling and you need to focus on the bigger task at hand. That's obviously to try and get the job done.”
Speaking further about his two match-winning partnerships against the relentless Indian attack, the Proteas skipper said: “It feels really special, firstly as a captain. I don't play for accolades or personal milestones. I play for my teammates and winning. I'm not going to exclude them from their achievements; they've done throughout the last couple of days. I think it means a hell of a lot for me when it comes to influencing our environment and leading from the front.”
Elgar added, “It's always something that I've liked to have done. Even as a schoolboy it's something I've always wanted to do with lead from the front and I think it makes it a lot easier for guys to follow your footsteps and actually trust you. So I think in that respect, it goes a long way.”
Rating his innings at the top, the skipper said: “This is right up there. Contributing in a big way in a win speaks a lot more than anything when it comes to personal gain or personal accolades. I was extremely glad as the captain that I could lead us over the line, which was a do-or-die kind of Test match for us.
So I would say it was up there, maybe the top three influential innings that I've played. It hasn't really sunk in yet. First and foremost, it's a Test win for South Africa. We fought long and hard, pushing us to different levels these 4 days. The guys responded brilliantly. It's great to accomplish another Test win.”
Elgar was hopeful that the second Test win would be a step in the right direction for the youngsters in the group. The Test series-deciding final Test to be played in Cape Town Test from January 11.
Elgar further explained, “I think it's a step in the right direction. We still have a lot of challenging encounters coming our way. Even in the next Test, we're gonna have a lot of encounters where we're going to be pushed to different boundaries and how the guys respond to that.”
He signed off by saying, “But I'd like to think of this as a massive positive moving in the right direction. Yeah, I think it's a confidence booster for a lot of our players within the squad. We've got relatively young and inexperienced guys. So yeah, I'd like to think it's a move in the right direction.”
(With PTI Inputs)
