Unwinding South Africa’s Fragile Batting with Searing Pace: Siraj Explodes on Day 1 with Career Best Spell
Mohammed Siraj unleashed a fiery spell of fast bowling, ripping through South Africa’s batting order and decimating them to a mere 55 runs on the first day of the second Test at Newlands.
His career-best figures of 6-15 saw India exploit a lively pitch to their advantage, sending the hosts tumbling within minutes of lunch.
Siraj’s mastery of line and length was on full display in his nine-over spell. While South Africa, opting to bat first, found themselves navigating a “snake-infested wicket” as described by their skipper Dean Elgar, some questionable shot selection further hastened their downfall.
The Indian seamers reveled in the movement and unpredictable bounce, a familiar feature of Newlands where low scores have become a grim trend. New Zealand and Australia bore the brunt of this phenomenon in 2013 and 2011, dismissed for 45 and 47 respectively.
For South Africa, this collapse surpassed their previous lowest innings total against India in Tests (79 at Nagpur in 2015) and even their home game at this very venue in 2018 (130).
Siraj wasted no time in finding his rhythm. Aiden Markram’s brief stay ended at 2, caught by Yashasvi Jaiswal at third slip. South African captain Elgar, playing his final Test before retirement, meekly chopped onto his stumps at 4.
Jasprit Bumrah chipped in with two wickets, sending debutant Tristan Stubbs (3) packing to a short-leg catch and then inducing Tony de Zorzi (2) into a fatal leg-side strangle that KL Rahul gobbled up behind the stumps.
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David Bedingham (12) offered a semblance of composure, but soon fell victim to Siraj’s rising delivery, Jaiswal claiming another catch. Kyle Verreynne (15) and Marco Jansen (0) became further casualties of the relentless Siraj, before Keshav Maharaj (3) was trapped by Mukesh Kumar (2-0) as India cleaned up the tail with ruthless efficiency.
This staggering collapse comes after South Africa’s resounding victory by an innings and 32 runs in the first Test at Pretoria. The second Test, however, seems to be unfolding on a dramatically different script, thanks to Siraj’s fiery assault and the unpredictable nature of the Newlands pitch.
With India already sniffing a strong first-innings lead, the pressure remains squarely on the beleaguered South African batsmen to salvage some pride in the remaining days.
