‘It’ll be one of our best Test match victories’ – Rohit Sharma draws similarities between Cape Town, Gabba victories

India’s skipper, Rohit Sharma, hailed the team’s triumph in Cape Town as one of their biggest historic feats, considering their past struggles at the venue and trailing 0-1 in the series. With no prior Test wins at Newlands, India scripted history by becoming the first Asian team to conquer the Proteas at this stronghold. In a must-win game to level the series, India capitalised on their bowlers’ stellar performance to clinch victory by seven wickets.

This victory marked only the second drawn Test series in nine tours to South Africa for India, the last being in the 2010-11 series. Remarkably, it was also the shortest Test ever played, spanning merely 642 balls across four innings. Rohit Sharma, comparing this win to the memorable triumph at the Gabba in January 2021, expressed sheer elation, placing the significance of this win in perspective.

“It’ll be one of our best Test match victories. Having not won here in Cape Town [before], obviously, this puts it right up there with all the victories that we’ve had. It’s very hard to compare the Test matches that you play because every Test match has its own importance and own relevance,” Rohit said at the post-match press conference.

“The Test match that we won at The Gabba as well. The last test match that was lost by Australia in Brisbane was in 1988, I think. Nearly after 23, 24 years [32 years], we won the Test match there. It kind of became like their fortress. They never lose a test match there,” Rohit continued.

“So you can’t really rank the Test matches, but this has to be right up there because we had not won here. That shows how important a venue this is for us to come here and perform. I give a lot of credit to our team to put up a performance like that and win the game,” he added.

Bowlers steer India to emphatic win in Cape Town

Powered by exceptional bowling displays by Mohammed Siraj and Jasprit Bumrah in both the innings, South Africa struggled to amass a competitive total. Bumrah, spearheading India’s pace battery, claimed 6 crucial wickets, dismissing key batters like Aiden Markram and Tristan Stubbs.

Mukesh Kumar, too, dazzled brightly with the red ball as he snatched a total of four wickets across both innings. Chasing a modest 79 runs in the second innings, India comfortably secured victory to level the two-match series against the hosts.