SA register lowest total against India; Siraj becomes 2nd Indian to claim 5 wickets before lunch

Mohammed Siraj claimed his best bowling figures 6 for 15 in Tests on day 1 of the second test, becoming the second Indian to take five wickets before lunch break. South Africa were skittled out for only 55 runs in Cape Town on Wednesday.

Cape Town:India's premium pacer Mohammed Siraj bowled a stupendous spell to skittle out a relatively young South Africa on a mere 55 runs day 1 of the second Test at Newlands Cricket Stadium in Cape Town on Wednesday. Indian bowlers bowled out Proteas before the lunch break as the innings ended in just 23.2 overs.

In his straight nine-over spell, Siraj claimed his career-best figures 6 for 15 as the South African batters made a beeline back to the dug-out, unable to counter the disconcerting bounce and the movement, both inward and outward, that he extracted off the surface.

The 29-year-old also became the only second India bowler to pick five-for in the first session of the Test Cricket after legendary spinner Maninder Singh spun out Javed Miandad, Manzoor Elahi, Saleem Malik, Imran Khan, and Wasim Akram, sending them back to the pavilion in space of 33 deliveries. His pre-lunch analysis read 5.3-3-11-5 during a test match between India and Pakistan in Banglore in 1987. However, Maninder ended with exceptional 7 for 27 as Pakistan folded for 116.

Coming to the match, on a tricky pitch, where both the captains were confused about how the pitch will behave, South Africa's captain Dean Elgar opted to bat and it proved as the worst decision. The Proteas batters never looked settled throughout the innings as no batter scored 15+ runs in the first innings. Siraj bowled his dream spell in Test cricket to display the masterclass of pace, swing, and seam movement. Interestingly, youngster David Bedingham (12) and Kyle Verreynne (15) were the only two batters to hit double digits as the South African supporters in the stands were stunned into silence.

Jasprit Bumrah (2/25 in 8 overs) kept bowling on tight line and lengths, building pressure from the other end as Indian skipper Rohit Sharma kept his promise of making opposite number Dean Elgar's life miserable in his farewell Test. Shardul Thakur's replacement Mukesh Kumar (2/0) did a fantastic job by wrapping the tail up.

The fall of wickets started with Aiden Markram, who was caught by Yashaswi Jaiswal at the third slip on a delivery that moved in the air and shaped away with the opener closing his bat face. Elgar, who was the real threat for India, failed to score big in his farewell Test after getting played on while playing cut-shot toward points, the region which was strategically left open by the fielding captain.

Bumrah got rid of debutant Tristan Stubbs and the simple catch was gobbled up by the skipper at short-leg. Tony De Zorzi's affinity to whip balls off the hips was exploited as he was caught down the leg-side. Unlike Centurion, Indian seamers kept bowling on fuller lengths, asking David Bedingham to come front foot, the right-hand batter went for a drive on a ball that took off from the good length and did the trick.

Once Marco Jansen edged Siraj to give him his fifth scalp, one knew that South Africa would have one of their most embarrassing mornings since returning to international cricket in 1991.

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