Centurion: If one person crushed India's team of conquering their final frontier - a Test series win in South Africa, it was southpaw Dean Elgar. His brilliant 185 played a vital role in South Africa's innings win over Rohit Sharma led Indian team in the first Test here inside three days.
Elgar, the elegant left handed batter, who was awarded, Player of the Match, in the post match presentation said, "Pretty special knock. Sometimes what we want to do hasn't worked out as plans, but happy that it worked today. I think you need to keep things nice and simple, the game is already pretty complex."
"Focus on the ball, play nice and straight. Play late and be great. You got to ride the roller when it works in your favour," added Elgar, who notched up his 14th Test ton but missed out on a deserving double hundred.
He also praised all-rounder Marco Jansen for the way he batted in South Africa's first innings.
"Good partnerships with Tony (de Zorzi), and then (Marco) Jansen showed his talent as well. You need fast bowlers and a spinner potentially to take 20 wickets, that's how we win Test matches.
"KG (Kasigo Rabada) was brilliant, but then Nandre (Burger) showed why he has been such a shining light for South African cricket. First few days were overcast, and close to a sellout.
"Crowds don't need much motivation to come out and watch their cricket or rugby in Pretoria. You can't win a two Test series if you don't win the first one, the Indians are difficult to beat. We'll have a few days out to relax and enjoy this. We were pretty clinical, our fielding wasn't the best and we didn't make it too easy for ourselves at times," he concluded.
The second match of the two Test series will be played at Cape Town.
Read More
- Batters succumb, South Africa thrash India by an innings and 32 runs
- IND vs SA 2nd Test: Virat Kohli becomes first batter to score 2000+ runs in calendar year for record 7th time
- We were not good enough to win: Rohit Sharma
